Ersin Tatar

Ersin Tatar was born on 7 September 1960 in Nicosia, the son of politician Rüstem Tatar, and his wife Canev Tatar.[3][4] He was a boarding pupil at Forest School, a private school in east London, England,[3][5] and attended Jesus College, Cambridge where he earned a degree in economics in 1982.[6][7]

From 1982 to 1986, Tatar worked as a chartered accountant for PriceWaterhouse in England. From 1986 to 1991, he worked for Polly Peck, and was the company's assistant treasurer when it collapsed with debts of £1.3 billion.[8]

In the resulting trial that led to CEO Asil Nadir receiving a ten-year jail term, it was alleged that Tatar had "assisted Mr Nadir in the dishonest movement of money from PPI and enjoyed a close working relationship with the Polly Peck boss."[8] When Tatar visited the UK in 2019, for the first time since 1991, there was concern that he might be arrested for his Polly Peck role, but the UK's Serious Fraud Office said that it was "no longer in the public interest".[9]

In 1991, he moved to Ankara where he worked at FMC Nurol Defense Industry Co until 1992. From 1992 to 2001, he was the general coordinator of Show TV, a Turkish television channel owned by Ciner Media Group.[4] In 1996, he founded his own Kanal T television channel in Nicosia.[4]

He was also an active member of the Cypriot diaspora community in Turkey, and was chair of the Istanbul Turkish Cypriot Cultural Association from 1997 to 2001.[10][6]

Tatar entered politics in 2003, joining the UBP. He was first elected to parliament in 2009, and served as Minister of Finance under Derviş Eroğlu until his party’s defeat in 2013. In 2015, he ran for the UBP leadership and lost. In 2018, he ran again and won.[10]

Tatar voiced support for the 2019 Turkish offensive into north-eastern Syria and said that Cypriot Turks are always on Turkey's side.[11]

Tatar also supports two-state solution.[12][13]

He is married to Sibel Tatar, and they have two children.[10][14]