Oz Karahan

Oz Karahan is a Cypriot political activist, columnist and current president of the Union of Cypriots.

Life and political career
Born in Istanbul, in 1990 to a father of Georgian, Armenian, and Turkish descent and a Turkish Cypriot mother, Oz Karahan moved to Famagusta when he was 15 years old. After his studies, he eventually moved to Larnaca, where the Turkish Cypriot part of his family originates from. During his formative years in Istanbul, he took part in the activities of the Turanist movements.

He graduated from Famagusta Namık Kemal High School. From a very young age, he joined and led a youth organization called Linobambaki, which was an active organisation during the 2011 Turkish Cypriot protests against Turkey. After completing his university studies in Anglo-American University, he became politically active in the United States, Sweden and Germany. During this time, was a member of the Communist Party USA in United States, as well as a member of the Communist Party in Sweden.

He was one of the founders of the World Union of Turkish-speaking Cypriots (WUTC), which fought against the Turkish occupation and the social and cultural oppression that Turkish Cypriots face in the occupied areas of Cyprus because of Turkey.

In 2019, he was nominated as an MEP candidate by the Jasmine Movement, and in 2024, he ran as a candidate under the Green Party of Cyprus in the European Parliament elections. He writes in his column “Gavur Imam” for the Avrupa newspaper.