Baha Çakmak

Baha Güneş Çakmak (4 August 1923 - 15 November 2000) was the second President of Vrachiapolis, serving from 1979-2000, and a founding member and longtime head of the Peace & Prosperity Party. First elected in 1979, he was re-elected in 1980, 1985, 1990 and 1995, becoming the country's longest-serving president.

Çakmak's emphasis on economic growth, egalitarianism and support of business entrepreneurship shaped the country's policies for the next decade. Under his tenure, the country's service and tourism industries grew, two new airports were built and the country became a founding member of the European Union. The Port of Vrachiapolis became one of the world's busiest ports, while Vrachiapolis Ikopola Airport became one of the world's busiest airports. Çakmak

Early life
Baha was born in, to Kahraman Munir Çakmak (1894-1941) and Akgül Işılay Yazar (1898-1983), both Turkish Cypriots. At the age of 3, the family moved to British Vrachia. He attended in,  and graduated from  with an MBBS. Following his graduation from the latter, he worked as a Greek, Turkish, and English translator in Vrachiapolis and as a grocery boy.

Political career
Çakmak hoped to become a physician, but he was drawn into the politics of Vrachiapolian and Cypriot independence during his time as a translator for the British Vrachian government. Çakmak increasingly believed that the British were ruling Cyprus and Vrachiapolis for themselves, and supported the wave of decolonization that was happening in Africa and Asia from European powers in the 1950s.

In 1954, Çakmak began practicing anesthesiology at the Lucretes Health Centre Hospital.

On 3 November 1962, Çakmak co-founded the Peace & Prosperity Party (PPP) with Fahir Hamzaoglu, Stylianos Katsanevas and Costas Gavras. The four met during their studies in Britain, and all four supported Vrachiapolian autonomy from the UK.

After Vrachiapolian independence in 1974, Hamzaoglu and Sakis Karahelios became president and prime minister, respectively. Hamzaoglu appointed Çakmak to the Minister of Health, a position he served until 1979, when he was elected President of Vrachiapolis.

President of Vrachiapolis (1979-2000)
Çakmak was sworn in as 2nd president of Vrachiapolis on 2 September 1979. Karahelios remained prime minister. On 7 December, he dissolved Parliament and called a snap election which took place on 4 February 1980. The 1980 election was the first out of four elections that the PPP won all seats in Parliament.

Çakmak was against the independence of in 1983, calling it "extremely sad that the divide between Greek and Turkish Cypriots has widened".

Domestically, Çakmak addressed Vrachiapolis' stagnating economy. He borrowed ideas from 's, setting up factories and bringing in foreign investment to attract American, Japanese, and other European corporations like and. This would have an impact in making Vrachiapolis a financial centre. He also helped develop Vrachiapolis into a tourism centre, setting up the Vrachiapolis Tourism Authority, which helped to expand tourism in Vrachiapolis, and expanding Ikopola Airport and opening Pantelaides Airport. By 2000, Vrachiapolis was one of the most visited cities in the world.

In addition, Çakmak expanded Vrachiapolis' welfare state policies envisioned by his predecessor Hamzaoglu. In 1980, he supported the founding of the first social benefit company in Vrachiapolis: The Plastics Guys, which aimed to provide jobs for low-income households.

Çakmak was re-elected in 1985, 1990, and 1995.

Illness, death and funeral
Baha's health gradually deteriorated throughout the late 1990s. On 5 March 2000, he announced he would not be standing for a sixth term as Vrachiapolian president in the next election. His tenure ended on 2 September 2000 with the election of Aytek Demirören as president. He died on 15 November 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 17 January 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.

Critics accuse Çakmak for curtailing press freedoms and restricting political opposition. One of the most infamous and controversial examples happened before the 1995 election, when a poll showed that popular opposition leader Ersin Armağan would get at least 30 seats in Parliament. As a result, the polling organization was disbanded, Armağan was unable to campaign, and a journalist investigating the event was killed. Çakmak apologized for the incident on his deathbed in 2000, and one of his last requests was for the government to provide reparations to the family of the journalist that was killed.

Nonetheless, Çakmak is credited with turning Vrachiapolis into the modern nation it is today.