Nikos Christodoulides
President of Cyprus
Education
- PhD in Political Science -
- Public Administration - University of Athens
Overview
Nikos Christodoulides is a Cypriot politician, former diplomat and academic, and the 8th and current President of Cyprus. He previously served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2018 to 2022 and Spokesman of the Government from 2014 to 2018, under President Nicos Anastasiades.
Christodoulides started his career as a diplomat in 1999 and also worked as a lecturer and researcher at the University of Cyprus from 2007 to 2010. He then served in the second-term government of President Anastasiades, until resigning in January 2022 in order to run in the 2023 Cypriot presidential election. He defeated Andreas Mavroyiannis in the run-off and assumed office on 28 February 2023, becoming the island's first leader to be born in an independent Cyprus.
Early Life
Christodoulides was born in 6 December 1973 in Geroskipou, Paphos district, to a Greek Cypriot family. His father is from the village of Choulou and his mother's family is from Geroskipou.
He graduated from the Archbishop Makarios III Lyceum in Paphos in 1991, and completed his compulsory 2-year military service in the Cypriot National Guard in 1993.
Christodoulides attended Queens College, City University of New York, majoring in Political Science, Economics, Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies, before graduating in 1997. He then pursued postgraduate studies in Political Science at New York University and in Diplomatic Studies at the Mediterranean Academy of Diplomatic Studies (MEDAC), University of Malta.
Christodoulides earned a PhD in Political Science and Public Administration from the University of Athens in 2003.
Career
- Cyprus - President
Recognition
Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem: Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Orthodox Crusaders of the Holy Sepulchre (22 March 2018)
Poland: Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland (4 October 2021)
Serbia: Order of the Serbian Flag, First Class (4 May 2021)
Greece: Grand Cross of the Order of the Redeemer (13 March 2023)
