The party was founded in 1970 by Ahmet Mithat Berberoğlu, a lawyer, in opposition to the leadership of Fazıl Küçük and Rauf Denktaş.

[6] During the presidency of former CTP leader Mehmet Ali Talat, the party led reunification talks with the Republic of Cyprus.

The two leaders discussed issues such as power-sharing, armed forces, land ownership, and other problems that would arise in the event of reunification of the island.

After winning the 2013 elections with 38% of the vote and 21 seats, the CTP chairman Özkan Yorgancıoğlu, in office since 2011, became prime minister of Northern Cyprus on 2 September 2013.

As a result, Özkan Yorgancıoğlu resigned as prime minister two months later;[10] Ömer Kalyoncu, also of the CTP, then formed a grand coalition with the National Unity Party.

The leader of CTP, Tufan Erhürman, was appointed Prime Minister of Northern Cyprus by President Mustafa Akıncı on 2 February 2018.