He started working as a lawyer and joined the Turkish Resistance Organisation, serving as a legal adviser in the Limassol District headquarters.
He then served as a military commander during the intercommunal fighting of 1964, he is noted to have led a significant resistance on 13 February 1964.
[7] According to political scientist and columnist Hasan Hastürer, President Rauf Denktaş heavily interfered with the government during his term as prime minister and a system of exploitation of Greek Cypriot properties and corruption was in place.
However, according to Hastürer, Çağatay never actually exploited any Greek Cypriot property, never allowed any relatives any privileges and was known as a man of integrity.
[8][9] According to the then-politician Ali Atun, Çağatay was eliminated from his position by Denktaş for unknown reasons;[10] Mehmet Hasgüler, a professor of political science, has written that it is rumoured that when Çağatay visited Turkey as the founding Prime Minister of Northern Cyprus, he would only be met by a governor, upon which he refused to go out of the plane, and said that Çağatay's immediate "removal" from Prime Ministry and the end of his political career suggest that this may be partly true.