Georgios Kyriakou Iacovou (born 19 July 1938) is a

Cypriot Cypriot (in older sources often "Cypriote") refers to someone or something of, from, or related to the country of Cyprus. * Cypriot people, or of Cypriot descent; this includes: **Armenian Cypriots **Greek Cypriots **Maronite Cypriots **Turkish C ...

diplomat A diplomat (from grc, δίπλωμα; romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state or an intergovernmental institution such as the United Nations or the European Union to conduct diplomacy with one or more other states or internati ...

and politician. Iacovou served as

Foreign Minister of Cyprus This is a list of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cyprus since the independence in 1960: {, border="1" class="wikitable" ! width="50%" , Minister ! width="25%" , Began ! width="25%" , Ended , - align=center , align=left, Spy ...

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 The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

. Between 2008 and 2013, Iacovou was Minister of Presidency.

Early life

Iacovou was born in the village of Peristeronopigi, in

Famagusta District Famagusta District ( gr, Επαρχία Αμμοχώστου, Eparchia Ammochostu; tr, Mağusa kazası) is one of the six districts of Cyprus. Its main town is the island's most important port, Famagusta. History Most of the district has b ...

. 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 Greek Cypriots or Cypriot Greeks ( el, Ελληνοκύπριοι, Ellinokýprioi, tr, Kıbrıs Rumları) are the ethnic Greek population of Cyprus, forming the island's largest ethnolinguistic community. According to the 2011 census, 659,115 r ...

community affairs.

Career

From 1960 until 1964, Iacovou worked in the private sector in Cyprus. He worked as a Senior Consultant at the international enterprise

Price Waterhouse PricewaterhouseCoopers is an international professional services brand of firms, operating as partnerships under the PwC brand. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is considered one of the Big Four accounting ...

in London, as Principal Officer for

Operational Research Operations research ( en-GB, operational research) (U.S. Air Force Specialty Code: Operations Analysis), often shortened to the initialism OR, is a discipline that deals with the development and application of analytical methods to improve decis ...

and later on as Senior Finance Officer of the board of directors for

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...

. 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.

Political career

Following the

Turkish invasion The 2019 Turkish offensive into north-eastern Syria, code-named Operation Peace Spring ( tr, Barış Pınarı Harekâtı) by Turkey, was a cross-border military operation conducted by the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) and the Syrian National Arm ...

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 Makarios III ( el, Μακάριος Γ΄; born Michael Christodoulou Mouskos) (Greek: Μιχαήλ Χριστοδούλου Μούσκος) (13 August 1913 – 3 August 1977) was a Cypriot politician, archbishop and primate who served as ...

, the first

President of the Republic of Cyprus The president of Cyprus, officially the president of the Republic of Cyprus, is the head of state and the head of government of Cyprus. The office was created in 1960, after Cyprus gained its independence from the United Kingdom. Currently, t ...

. 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 The Cyprus problem, also known as the Cyprus dispute, Cyprus issue, Cyprus question or Cyprus conflict, is an ongoing dispute between Greek Cypriots in the south and Turkish Cypriots in the north. Initially, with the Modern history of Cyprus#In ...

. 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 The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integratio ...

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

. From January 1979 until January 1983, he was Ambassador of the Cyprus Republic to the

Federal Republic of Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated between ...

, with parallel accreditation to

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

and

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

; 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 The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the Organs of the United Nations, six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international security, international peace and security, recommending the admi ...

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 The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisb ...

(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 The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

("EU"). Later on, he was appointed by the

Greek government Greece is a parliamentary representative democratic republic, where the President of Greece is the head of state and the Prime Minister of Greece is the head of government within a multi-party system. Legislative power is vested in both the g ...

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 Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

from the former

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 Sukhumi (russian: Суху́м(и), ) or Sokhumi ( ka, სოხუმი, ), also known by its Abkhaz name Aqwa ( ab, Аҟәа, ''Aqwa''), is a city in a wide bay on the Black Sea's eastern coast. It is both the capital and largest city of ...

Abkhazia Abkhazia, ka, აფხაზეთი, tr, , xmf, აბჟუა, abzhua, or ( or ), officially the Republic of Abkhazia, is a partially recognised state in the South Caucasus, recognised by most countries as part of Georgia, which vi ...

; he later participated in a similar operation in the city of

Groznyy Grozny ( rus, Грозный, p=ˈgroznɨj; ce, Соьлжа-ГӀала, translit=Sölƶa-Ġala), also spelled Groznyy, is the capital city of Chechnya, Russia. The city lies on the Sunzha River. According to the 2010 census, it had a popu ...

Chechnya Chechnya ( rus, Чечня́, Chechnyá, p=tɕɪtɕˈnʲa; ce, Нохчийчоь, Noxçiyçö), officially the Chechen Republic,; ce, Нохчийн Республика, Noxçiyn Respublika is a republic of Russia. It is situated in the ...

. He also founded several university departments for the teaching of the

Greek language Greek ( el, label=Modern Greek, Ελληνικά, Elliniká, ; grc, Ἑλληνική, Hellēnikḗ) is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to Greece, Cyprus, southern Italy (Calabria and Salento), southern Al ...

in countries of the former Soviet Union.

Presidential election

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 The Progressive Party of Working People ( el, Ανορθωτικό Κόμμα Εργαζόμενου Λαού, ; abbr. , AKEL; tr, Emekçi Halkın İlerici Partisi) is a Marxist–LeninistHelena Smith, Cyprus gets ready for a communist 'takeover ...

and

DIKO The Democratic Party ( el, Δημοκρατικό Κόμμα (ΔΗΚΟ), ''Dimokratikó Kómma'' (DIKO)) is a Greek-Cypriot nationalist, centrist political party in Cyprus founded in 1976 by Spyros Kyprianou. DIKO is variously described as cent ...

. He lost, by a narrow margin, to the incumbent President of the Republic,

Glafcos Clerides Glafcos Ioannou Clerides ( el, Γλαύκος Ιωάννου Κληρίδης; 24 April 1919 – 15 November 2013) was a Cypriot politician and barrister who served as the fourth president of Cyprus from 1993 to 2003. At the time of his death, h ...

. On 1 March 2003, he was appointed Foreign Minister in the new government of President

Tassos Papadopoulos Efstathios "Tassos" Nikolaou Papadopoulos ( el, Ευστάθιος (Τάσσος) Νικολάου Παπαδόπουλος; 7 January 1934 – 12 December 2008) was a Cypriot politician and barrister who served as the fifth president of Cyp ...

, serving until June 2006. In October that year, he was appointed as High Commissioner to the United Kingdom.

Awards and affiliations

Iacovou has been awarded several honours, distinctions and medals from numerous countries, universities and organisations, amongst which are: *The Grand Cross of Merit, Federal Republic of Germany *The Grand Cross of the Order of Phoenix,

Hellenic Republic Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

*The ''Grand Decoration of Honour in Gold with Sash'' for Services to the Republic of Austria (1983) *The Grand Cross of the Order of Isavel La Catolica, Kingdom of Spain *The Grand Cross of the Order of Honour, Hellenic Republic *The Grand Cross of the Order of Infante D. Henrique, Republic of

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

*The Decoration of the Battalion of the Yugoslav Flag *The Decoration of the Arab Republic of

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

*The Decoration of the Cross of St. Mark of the 1st order of the Patriarchate of Alexandria and all Africa *Decoration of St. Catherine's Monastery of Sinai *Honorary Doctorate of the Athens

Panteion University The Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences ( el, Πάντειον Πανεπιστήμιο Κοινωνικών και Πολιτικών Επιστημών), usually referred to simply as the Panteion University, is a university loc ...

, of Political and Social Sciences

References

External links

Biographical info
{{DEFAULTSORT:Iakovou, Georgios 1938 births Living people Cyprus Ministers of Foreign Affairs Cypriot diplomats Cypriot refugees Ambassadors of Cyprus to Germany Ambassadors of Cyprus to Austria Ambassadors of Cyprus to Switzerland High Commissioners of Cyprus to the United Kingdom Grand Crosses 1st class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Recipients of the Grand Decoration with Sash for Services to the Republic of Austria