Politician, journalist-writer and medical
doctor (B. 14th March 1906, Ortaköy
/ Nicosia / Cyprus – D. 15th January 1984 London / England). He is
known with the name of Dr. Fazıl Küçük. He is graduated from the Tarakçı School,
the Istanbul Özel İstiklal High School and the Kabataş Erkek High School (1926).
He started his education of medicine at the Faculty of Medicine, İstanbul
Darülfünun Ottoman University (İstanbul University). He went to France and then
to Switzerland after his first year and he finished his education at the
University of Lausanne. After the medical specialty education he took in the
clinics of Lausanne, he became a specialist in internal diseases. He returned
to Cyprus in May 1937 and worked as a self-employed doctor in Nicosia for
approximately twenty years (1937 – 58).
In his university student years, Küçük took a
stand on the Kavanin Assembly that insisted that Turkish Cypriots should have been
governed by governors assigned by the United Kingdom (England). His political
life started with his councillorship in the Municipality of Nicosia between the
years of 1943-49. He first carried out works for the transfer of Turkish
Schools and Evkaf (Foundations) Administration to the Turkish public. He wrote
writings dealing with the problems of Turkish Cypriots in the one and only
Turkish newspaper of the time Söz and
then in the newspaper of Masum Millet for
this purpose. On 14th March 1941, he started to publish the newspaper
“Halkın Sesi” that he founded himself.
He was one of the founders of the Association of Kıbrıs Adası Türk Azınlığı (KATAK)
on 18th April 1943. Later on, he left KATAK and established the
Kıbrıs Milli Türk Halk Party (KMTHP) (23rd April 1944). This party
was assembled with KATAK on 23rd October 1949 and was restructured
under the name of Kıbrıs Milli Türk Birliği Party and Dr. Küçük became the
leader of this new constitution. The name of this party was changed to Kıbrıs
Türktür Party on 15th August 1955.
Dr. Küçük founded the Organization of Kıbrıs
Türk Mukavemet (KITEMB) on the date of 1st April 1955 and the secret
Volkan organization in September 1955. The same year, England started to
utilize Turkish Cypriots as polices and commandos upon the terror movements of
the Greek secret organization EOK, which were started for the purpose of saving
the island from the exploitation of England and to put it under the sovereignty
of Greece or to declare the independence. When the subject of the English to
leave Cyprus became a current issue, Turkey and Greece showed different
approaches about their statuses on the island. The principles behind the active
entering of Dr. Fazıl Küçük to politics were to raise the awareness of the
Turkish Cypriot community against the international actors that had obvious or
secret intentions on the island and to be on the side of the Turkish Cypriot
community. Upon the efforts of Küçük, the Şer’iye Courts were removed and
Turkish Family Courts, taking the legal system of the west as principle, were
founded. The position of mufti was reconstructed and brought to life. The
English Exploitation Government transferred the Türk Tali Schools and the Vakıflar (T.N.
Foundations) Administration to the Turkish community.
After the London and Zurich Conferences in which
he participated as the representative of the Turkish Cypriot community, Dr.
Küçük has represented the Turkish Cypriot community in the conference organized
on 17th February 1959 in London and he signed the agreement settled
in two days in the name of his community. According to the foundation
agreements of the Republic of Cyprus, the president of the republic would be
from the Greek side and the vice-president of the republic would be from the
Turkish side. Hereupon, Dr. Fazıl Küçük was selected as the first
vice-president of the republic of Cyprus on 3rd December 1959. From
the month of July of 1962 until the month of December, he visited all the
Turkish villages and some of the Greek villages together with a team
specialized in the problems of rural regions, he prepared a detailed report
after completing these visits and he sent it to the responsible governmental
authorities.
Küçük, who presided the General Committee
founded after the attacks of the Greeks to Turkish on 21st December
1963, was assigned as the director of the Geçici Kıbrıs Türk Government founded
on the date of 27th December 1967. He left his position of the
Vice-president of the Republic of Cyprus on 18th February 1973 and
gave his place to his friend from warfare Rauf Denktaş. He felt unwell at the
beginning of the year 1980. However, he continued to write articles in “Halkın Sesi” and he continued to put
forward his opinion about several problems even in this period of illness that
lasted two or three years. He accepted the foundation of the Turkish Republic
of Northern Cyprus with joy.
Küçük lost his life on 15th January 1984 at the age of 78, in
a hospital in London, where he was receiving a treatment. His corpse was buried
in the place known as the hill of Mumcu in Hamitköy near Nicosia. The hill
where his corpse was put was named as “Anıt Tepe” after this day. A mausoleum was
constructed for him afterwards and his consulting room was reorganized as “The
Museum of Dr. Fazıl Küçük”