Mehmet Ali Talat

Mehmet Ali Talat is a Turkish Cypriot politician who served as the President of Northern Cyprus from 2005 to 2010. Talat is the leader of the social democratic Republican Turkish Party, having previously held this position between 1996 and 2005. He became prime minister in 2004, and subsequently won the presidential election held on 17 April 2005. Talat was inaugurated on 25 April 2005, succeeding retiring leader Rauf Denktaş. He lost the presidential election of 2010 and was replaced by Derviş Eroğlu as President.