Emine Çolak (born 9 March 1958) is a

Turkish Cypriot Turkish Cypriots or Cypriot Turks ( or ; ) are so called ethnic Turks originating from Cyprus. Turkish Cypriots are mainly Sunni Muslims. Following the Ottoman conquest of the island in 1571, about 30,000 Turkish settlers were given land onc ...

lawyer who served as the

Minister of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...

Northern Cyprus Northern Cyprus, officially the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), is a ''de facto'' state that comprises the northeastern portion of the Geography of Cyprus, island of Cyprus. It is List of states with limited recognition, recognis ...

in the Kalyoncu cabinet between July 2015 and April 2016.

Early life

Çolak was born on 9 March 1958 in

Nicosia Nicosia, also known as Lefkosia and Lefkoşa, is the capital and largest city of Cyprus. It is the southeasternmost of all EU member states' capital cities. Nicosia has been continuously inhabited for over 5,500 years and has been the capi ...

. She studied law at

SOAS, University of London The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS University of London; ) is a public university, public research university in London, England, and a constituent college, member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, ...

and graduated in 1979, earning the right to work as a barrister in 1980. She started running her law office in Nicosia in 1982 and worked on several administrative, family, commercial, property and human rights cases. She worked as a lawyer on contract in the Department of Promotion.

Career

Çolak founded the Turkish Cypriot Human Rights Association and was its chairperson when she was appointed as a minister. She served as a member of the Municipal Council of the

Nicosia Turkish Municipality Nicosia Turkish Municipality () is the governing body of North Nicosia province of TRNC. It was established in 1958 and was recognized by Article 173 of the Constitution of the Republic of Cyprus. After 1974 and the Turkish invasion of Cyprus ...

between 1994 and 2002, and coordinated the law commission in preparation for the

Annan Plan The Annan Plan (), also known as the Cyprus reunification plan, was a United Nations proposal to resolve the Cyprus dispute. The different parts of the proposal were based on the argumentation put forward by each party (Turkish Cypriots and Gree ...

for Cyprus in 2003 and 2004. She took part in bi-communal efforts beginning from 1990 and participated in the Turkish-Greek Forum in 2002. As part of her contribution to non-governmental organizations, she undertook work in areas of children's rights, women's rights, LGBT rights, rights of patients and rights of refugees. She is among the founding members of the Turkish Cypriot Association of Arbitration, Initiative against Homophobia, Association for Patient Rights and Association for Refugee Rights. She also served as the chairperson of the executive board of Sim Radyo. She was appointed to the High Judiciary Council by President

Mehmet Ali Talat Mehmet Ali Talat (born 6 July 1952) is a Turkish Cypriot politician who served as the president of Northern Cyprus from 2005 to 2010. Talat was the leader of the social democratic Republican Turkish Party (, CTP), from 1996 to 2005 and 2015 to ...

in 2007 and served till 2011. Upon her taking office as the Minister of Foreign Affairs on 16 July 2015 in the Kalyoncu cabinet, she became the first female Minister of Foreign Affairs of Northern Cyprus.

Personal life

Çolak has three children and speaks English and French.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Colak, Emine 1958 births Ministers of foreign affairs of Northern Cyprus Government ministers of Northern Cyprus Living people People from Nicosia Female foreign ministers Turkish Cypriot expatriates in the United Kingdom Alumni of the University of London