Baha Çakmak

Baha Güneş Çakmak (August 4, 1923 - November 15, 2000) was the second President of Vrachiapolis, serving from 1974-2000, and a founding member and longtime head of the Peace & Prosperity Party. He was first elected in 1979 and re-elected in 1985, 1990 and 1995.

Early life
Baha was born in, to Kahraman Munir Çakmak and Akgül Işılay Yazar, both Turkish Cypriots. At the age of 3, the family moved to British Vrachia. He graduated from in,. Following his graduation he worked as a translator in Vrachiapolis and as a grocery boy.

Illness, death and funeral
Baha's health gradually deteriorated throughout the late 1990s. On March 5, 2000, he announced he would not be standing for a sixth term as Vrachiapolian president in the next election. His tenure ended on September 2, 2000 with the election of Aytek Demirören as president. He died on November 15, 2000 from multiple heart failure at the Lucretes Health Centre Hospital in Lucretes. Vrachiapolis declared a weeklong mourning period, and his funeral, which hundreds attended, was held on January 17, 2001. His body was embalmed and put on display in the Baha Çakmak Mausoleum.

Legacy
Çakmak presided over the transformation of Vrachiapolis from simply an "extension" of Cyprus into a developed country and a high-income economy. The unemployment rate decreased from 10.5% in 1974 to 0.9% by 2000. External trade increased from $3.3 billion in 1974 to $155 billion in 2000. The life expectancy for Vrachiapolians grew from 71.1 in 1974 to 78.8 in 2000. Çakmak Division of Vrachiapolis is named after Çakmak.