Ex-Turkish Cypriot leader, who helped form the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in 1983, passed away on Friday
Former Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash, a fierce supporter of Turkish Cypriot independence and key figure in Cyprus's decades-old ethnic conflict, died on Friday, family members and doctors said. He was 88.
Denktash, who had experienced deteriorating health for the past 10 years, was admitted to hospital on 8 January with dehydration which rapidly developed into multiple organ failure.
"He had the soul of a fighter," his son, Serdar Denktash, told state TV in a live broadcast.
Denktash spent several weeks in hospital in 2011 following a stroke.
A controversial figure viewed as a national hero by Turks, but vilified by many Greeks, Denktash held centre stage in the past half-century of the Cyprus conflict.
The island, home to Turks and Greeks, experienced upheaval and ethnic strife after independence from Britain in 1960, and was divided in a Turkish invasion in 1974 triggered by a brief Greek-inspired coup.
Greek Cypriots now live in Cyprus's south under an internationally recognised government and Turkish Cypriots in the north, in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus which Denktash founded in 1983. The state is recognised only by Ankara, while the south represents the island in the European Union.
On and off talks have failed to reunite Cyprus, which is a key source of tension between NATO allies Greece and Turkey and is said to have harmed Ankara's bid to join the EU.
The United Nations is now engaged in a new round of peace talks between the two sides, hoping for a deal by the time Cyprus assumes the EU presidency in July.