The north’s ‘government’ announced on Friday that it has appointed ‘finance minister’ Ozdemir Berova as its new spokesperson.

Berova’s appointment was agreed upon on Thursday evening during a cabinet meeting, and he began by announcing the various matters discussed at the meeting.

The meeting had been attended by Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar, who discussed with them “national and international developments” including the recent informal dinner he had attended with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and President Nikos Christodoulides.

After Tatar’s departure, the cabinet discussed various laws to be introduced in the law, including a move towards introducing European Union occupational health and safety standards on construction sites and work local to the ‘finance ministry’, likely with a view to the ‘state budget’ being announced later this autumn.

Berova, 56, is a qualified doctor who studied at Trakya University in Turkey. He has served as chairman of the Cyprus Turkish Medical Association and as the chief physician at Dr Akcicek Hospital in Kyrenia.

He entered politics in the 2013 ‘parliamentary elections,’ initially as an ‘MP’ for the DP party, and served as ‘education minister’ from 2014 to 2015 and again from 2016 to 2018.

He later joined the UBP ahead of the 2018 ‘parliamentary elections’ and remained on the party’s back benches until his appointment as ‘finance minister’ last year.