Cyprus, officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, north of the Sinai Peninsula, south of the Anatolian Peninsula, and west of the Levant. It is geographically a part of West Asia, but its cultural ties and geopolitics are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the third-largest and third-most populous island in the Mediterranean. It is east of Greece, north of Egypt, south of Turkey, and west of Lebanon and Syria. Its capital and largest city is Nicosia. The northeast portion of the island is de facto governed by the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
Limassol is a city on the southern coast of Cyprus and capital of the Limassol district. Limassol is the second-largest urban area in Cyprus after Nicosia, with an urban population of 195,139 and a district population of 262,238. The Limassol municipality is the most populated in Cyprus, with a population of 108,105, followed by Strovolos municipality in Nicosia.
Catherine Margaret Ashton, Baroness Ashton of Upholland, is a British Labour politician who served as the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and First Vice President of the European Commission in the Barroso Commission from 2009 to 2014.
The United Nations Buffer Zone in Cyprus is a demilitarized zone, patrolled by the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP), that was established on 4 March 1964, then extended on 9 August after the Battle of Tillyria and extended again in 1974 after the ceasefire of 16 August 1974, following the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, and the de facto partition of the island into the area controlled by the Republic of Cyprus and the largely unrecognized Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in the north. The zone, also known as the Green Line, stretches for 180 kilometres from Paralimni in the east to Kato Pyrgos in the west, where a separate section surrounds Kokkina.
At the national level, the Republic of Cyprus holds elections for its head of state, the President of Cyprus, and for its legislature, the House of Representatives.
Demetris Christofias was a Cypriot politician, who served President of Cyprus from 2008 to 2013. He was previously President of the House of Representatives from 2001 to 2008 and General Secretary of the Progressive Party of Working People from 1988 to 2009.
The House of Representatives is the national unicameral legislature of the Republic of Cyprus. Members and three observers representing Armenian, Latin, and Maronite Cypriots are elected by proportional representation every five years. 30% of seats are allocated to Turkish Cypriots, but these have been vacant since 1964. The House of Representatives of Cyprus is the only legislature in the European Union within a fully presidential system.
Antonella Gambotto-Burke (née Antonella Gambotto, born 19 September 1965 is an Italian-Australian author, journalist and singer-songwriter based in England and known for her writing about sex, death and motherhood.
Eleni Mavrou is a Cypriot politician currently serving as the Executive Chairman of Dialogos Media Group. She served as Minister of Interior of the Republic of Cyprus until February 2013. From 2007 to 2011, she served as the mayor of the capital city, Nicosia. Thus, Mavrou became the first female mayor of Nicosia, as well as the first female Minister of Interior.
Alexandra Bugailiskis is a Canadian former diplomat. In March 2022, she retired from Global Affairs Canada after a 39 year diplomatic career. In January 2023, she was appointed Chair of the International Advisory Committee of the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH), known as the UN's Think Tank on Water, based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, From August 2017 until her retirement, she served as the Canadian Ambassador to the Italian Republic, as well as Permanent Representative to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the World Food Programme and the International Fund for Agricultural Development, with concurrent accreditation as Ambassador to San Marino, and to Albania, as well as High Commissioner to Malta.
Eleni Theocharous is a Cypriot paediatric surgeon and politician who leads the political party Solidarity Movement. She was elected to the European Parliament in 2009, re-elected in 2014 and served until 2019. Between 2001 and 2009, Theocharous was a member House of Representatives of Cyprus for the Limassol constituency.
Khadija Arib is a Moroccan-Dutch politician of the Labour Party, who served as Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands from 12 December 2015 to 7 April 2021. In the 2016 Speaker of the Dutch House of Representatives election on 13 January, she was elected to the position, which she had served as Acting Speaker since the resignation of Anouchka van Miltenburg on 12 December 2015. Arib became a member of the House of Representatives following the 1998 Dutch general election and served until 2022, with a brief interruption between 2006 and 2007.
Antigoni Papadopoulou is a Greek Cypriot politician and chemist. She was one of the first two Cypriot women to be elected as Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) among six Cypriot MEPs (2009). She is a former Member of the House of Representatives of the Republic of Cyprus and the First Woman to serve as Chair of the House’s Committee of Economic Affairs and Budgeting (2006–2009). She was an Assembly Member of the Council of Europe from 2001 to 2009 and has also served as Vice Chairperson of the Committee of Economic Affairs of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (2003–2009).
Lisa LaTrelle Blunt Rochester is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for Delaware's at-large congressional district since 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, she is the first woman and first African American to represent Delaware in Congress.
María Elvira Salazar is an American journalist, author, and politician serving as the U.S. representative for Florida's 27th congressional district. She is a Republican assistant whip. Before entering politics, Salazar worked for the Spanish-language network Telemundo for three decades after serving as a news anchor for Miami-based WSBS TV. She has also worked for CNN Español and Univision.
Anna Theologou, is a Cypriot economist and politician who served as a member of the House of Representatives.
Stephanie Paige Borowicz is an American politician currently serving as a Republican member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for the 76th district since 2019.
Julie D. Fisher is an American diplomat who has served as the United States ambassador to Cyprus since February 2023.
Annita Demetriou is a Greek-Cypriot politician, who serves as President of the Cypriot House of Representatives since June 2021, and as the President of the Democratic Rally (DISY) since March 2023. The latter role effectively designates her as the Leader of Opposition to the incumbent Christodoulides government.
