Georgios Iacovou Γεώργιος Ιακώβου | |
---|---|
Cypriot High Commissioner to the United Kingdom | |
In office 20 October 2006 –2007 | |
Minister of Foreign Affairs | |
In office 1 March 2003 –12 June 2006 | |
President | Tassos Papadopoulos |
Preceded by | Ioannis Kasoulidis |
Succeeded by | Giorgos Lillikas |
In office 22 September 1983 –28 February 1993 | |
President | Spyros Kyprianou George Vassiliou |
Preceded by | Nicos A. Rolandis |
Succeeded by | Alekos Michaelides |
Cypriot Ambassador to Germany | |
In office January 1979 –January 1983 | |
Personal details | |
Born | Peristeronopigi,Cyprus | 19 July 1938
Profession | Diplomat,politician |
Georgios Kyriakou Iacovou (born 19 July 1938) is a Cypriot diplomat and politician. Iacovou served as Foreign Minister of Cyprus for two consecutive terms from 1983 to 1993 and for a third term from 2003 to 2006,which makes him Cyprus's longest serving Foreign Minister. Between 2006 and 2007,he served as High Commissioner of Cyprus to the United Kingdom. He is also known for his work on the rehabilitation of Greek Cypriot refugees and on persons of Greek origin living in the former Soviet Union. Between 2008 and 2013,Iacovou was Minister of Presidency.
Iacovou was born in the village of Peristeronopigi,in Famagusta District. He graduated from the Famagusta Gymnasium. From 1955 to 1960,Iacovou was a student in the United Kingdom and was active in student politics and Greek Cypriot community affairs.
From 1960 until 1964,Iacovou worked in the private sector in Cyprus. He worked as a Senior Consultant at the international enterprise Price Waterhouse in London,as Principal Officer for Operational Research and later on as Senior Finance Officer of the board of directors for British Rail. In 1972,he returned to Cyprus from the United Kingdom,and was appointed Director of the Cyprus Productivity Centre,where he introduced new management methods in industry and commerce,pioneering programmes for continuing education of business executives,such as a post-graduate management course that has been running for over thirty years. He also turned his attention to the upgrading of skills of artisans and technicians in many fields. Concurrently,Iacovou was Chairman of the board of directors of the Hotel and Catering Institute of Cyprus ("HCI"),and under his stewardship,the HCI became internationally known,being acknowledged accordingly on the island.
Following the Turkish invasion of 1974,he established and directed the "Service for the Relief and Rehabilitation of Displaced Persons" on directions from the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Cyprus. He later also established the "Service for the Reintegration of Displaced Persons". Iacovou's work for refugees has had an important impact on subsequent developments in Cyprus,including what has been dubbed the Cypriot "economic miracle". In this capacity,Iacovou became a close associate of Archbishop Makarios,the first President of the Republic of Cyprus. He also became one of the most articulate advocates of the rights of displaced persons in Cyprus,who form a core issue of the wider Cyprus problem. His work in the field has been nationally and internationally acknowledged,with his exposure to these people's problems influencing his subsequent career. Iacovou is considered one of the ablest administrators of Cyprus and is often referred to as the technocrat with the big heart. From April 1976 until January 1979,he served as Head of the Africa Department of the UN High Commission for Refugees in Geneva.
From January 1979 until January 1983,he was Ambassador of the Cyprus Republic to the Federal Republic of Germany,with parallel accreditation to Austria and Switzerland;later on,he served as Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
On 22 September 1983,he was appointed Foreign Minister and remained in this post until February 1993. His first appointment to this office came just before the illegal and unilateral declaration of "independence" by the Turkish Cypriot leadership in 1983. Nevertheless,he successfully pursued the condemnation of this action in the United Nations Security Council through the adoption of SC Resolutions 541 and 550. As Minister of Foreign Affairs,he negotiated Cyprus's Customs Union Agreement with the then European Economic Community (EEC) in 1987,and in 1990,he submitted the application of Cyprus to join the EEC. In 2003,Iacovou signed the Treaty of Accession of Cyprus to the European Union ("EU").
Later on,he was appointed by the Greek government as President of the National Foundation for the Reception and Resettlement of Repatriated Greeks. His programme for the integration of several hundred thousand persons of Greek origin returning to Greece from the former Soviet Union was met with great success. Iacovou masterminded operation Golden Fleece,the liberation of fifteen hundred men,women and children of Greek origin from the besieged city of Sukhumi in Abkhazia;he later participated in a similar operation in the city of Groznyy,Chechnya. He also founded several university departments for the teaching of the Greek language in countries of the former Soviet Union.
Following his return to Cyprus in 1997,he ran for office in the February 1998 presidential election as an independent candidate supported by the political parties AKEL and DIKO. He lost,by a narrow margin,to the incumbent President of the Republic,Glafcos Clerides. On 1 March 2003,he was appointed Foreign Minister in the new government of President Tassos Papadopoulos,serving until June 2006. In October that year,he was appointed as High Commissioner to the United Kingdom.
Iacovou has been awarded several honours,distinctions and medals from numerous countries,universities and organisations,amongst which are:
Joseph Marie Antoine Hubert Luns was a Dutch politician of the defunct Catholic People's Party (KVP),now merged into the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA),diplomat,and jurist. He served as Secretary General of NATO from 1 October 1971 until 25 June 1984.
Georges Jean Raymond Pompidou was a French politician who served as President of France from 1969 to his death in 1974. He was earlier the longest-ever Prime Minister of France,under President Charles de Gaulle,from 1962 to 1968.
Konstantinos G. Karamanlis was a Greek politician who was the four-time Prime Minister of Greece and two-term president of the Third Hellenic Republic. A towering figure of Greek politics,his political career spanned portions of seven decades,covering much of the latter half of the 20th century.
Efstathios "Tassos" Nikolaou Papadopoulos was a Cypriot politician and barrister,who served as President of Cyprus from 2003 to 2008.
Spyros Achilleos Kyprianou was a Cypriot barrister and politician,who served as President of Cyprus from 1977 to 1988. He also served as President of the Cypriot House of Representatives from 1976 to 1977 and then again from 1996 to 2001,as well as being President of the Democratic Party,which he founded,from 1976 to 2000.
Henri "Hans" van den Broek is a retired Dutch politician and diplomat of the defunct Catholic People's Party (KVP) and later the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and jurist who served as European Commissioner from 6 January 1993 until 16 September 1999.
Dimitris Avramopoulos is a Greek politician of the conservative New Democracy party,and former career diplomat. He has served in various high-level cabinet posts,including Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for National Defence,and was Mayor of Athens in 1995–2002. He served as EU Commissioner for Migration,Home Affairs and Citizenship in the Juncker Commission between 2014 and 2019.
George Vassiliou is a Cypriot politician,who served as President of Cyprus from 1988 to 1993. He was also the President of United Democrats from 1996 to 2005 and Member of the Cypriot House of Representatives from 1996 to 2001. Prior to entering politics,he was a successful businessman.
Karolos Papoulias was a Greek politician who served as the president of Greece from 2005 to 2015.
The Politics of Northern Cyprus takes place in a framework of a semi-presidential representative democratic republic,whereby the president is head of state and the prime minister is the head of government,and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the Assembly of the Republic. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.
Prince Vanna Vaidhayakara,known in the West as Wan Waithayakon (1891–1976),was a Thai royal prince and diplomat. He was President of the Eleventh Session of the United Nations General Assembly (1956–1957),while serving as Thailand's Permanent Representative to the United Nations. He was a grandson of King Mongkut.
Prokopios "Prokopis" Pavlopoulos is a Greek retired politician,who served as the president of Greece from 2015 to 2020. A member of New Democracy,he previously was Minister of the Interior from 2004 to 2009. He was succeeded by Katerina Sakellaropoulou on 13 March 2020,who became the first woman to serve as President of Greece.
Solomon Solomou was a Greek Cypriot who was shot and killed by a Turkish officer while trying to climb a flagpole in order to remove a Turkish flag from its mast in Cyprus's United Nations Buffer Zone. The killing occurred in the aftermath of the funeral of Solomou's cousin Tassos Isaac,who had been murdered a few days earlier by Turkish nationalists belonging to the militant Grey Wolves organization.
Anastasios "Tassos" Isaac,was a Greek Cypriot refugee who participated in a civilian demonstration against the Republic of Turkey's military occupation of the northern part of the Republic of Cyprus. The demonstrators' demand was for the complete withdrawal of Turkish troops from the island,and the return of Cypriot refugees to their homes. Isaac was beaten to death by a mob of Turkish far-right ultranationalists of the Grey Wolves in the United Nations Buffer Zone in Cyprus.
Rosen Asenov Plevneliev is a Bulgarian politician who was the 4th President of Bulgaria,holding the position from January 2012 to January 2017. He was the Minister of Regional Development and Public Works from July 2009 to September 2011 as part of the cabinet of Boyko Borisov. In October 2011,Plevneliev was elected as President in a second round of voting;he was inaugurated on 18 January 2012.
Nicos Tornaritis is a Cypriot jurist and politician,who serves as member of the Cypriot House of Representatives since 2001. He is one of the most senior figures within the Democratic Rally (DISY) party.
Praphas Charusathien was a Thai military officer and politician. He was a field marshal of the Royal Thai Army and minister of interior in the governments of military rulers Sarit Thanarat and Thanom Kittikachorn.
Panagiotis Mitarachi,known as Notis Mitarachi,is a Greek politician who served as Minister of Citizen Protection (2023),Minister of Migration and Asylum (2020-2023),Deputy Minister of Labour &Social Affairs (2019-2020) and Deputy Minister of Development and Competitiveness (2012-2015). He is a member of the Hellenic Parliament for Chios with New Democracy. He was a President of the Council of the European Union during the Hellenic Presidency.
The Greek honors system goes back to 1829 and the establishment of the Order of the Redeemer at the Fourth National Assembly at Argos. However,the relevant decree was signed in Nafplio by King Otto on May 20,1833. The Grand Cross of the Order of the Redeemer remains the highest honor of Greece to this day.
Cyprus–Mexico relations are the diplomatic relations between the Republic of Cyprus and the United Mexican States. Neither country has a resident ambassador. Both nations are members of the United Nations.