30 Facts About Nikos Christodoulides

Nikos Christodoulides is a Cypriot politician, diplomat, and academic who has served as the 8th President of Cyprus since 2023.

Nikos Christodoulides previously served as Government Spokesman from 2014 to 2018 and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2018 to 2022, both under his predecessor Nicos Anastasiades.

Nikos Christodoulides then served in the second Anastasiades government until resigning in January 2022 in order to run in the presidential election, where he defeated Andreas Mavroyiannis in the run-off and assumed office on 28 February 2023.

Nikos Christodoulides is the first Cypriot leader to be born in Cyprus after it gained independence from British rule.

Nikos Christodoulides was born in Geroskipou on 6 December 1973, the son of a mother from Geroskipou and a father from Choulou.

Nikos Christodoulides graduated from the Lyceum A' of Ethnarch Makarios III, Paphos in 1991, and completed his compulsory two-year military service in the Cypriot National Guard in 1993.

Nikos Christodoulides graduated from Queens College in New York City in 1997, having majored in political science, economics, and Byzantine and Modern Greek studies.

Nikos Christodoulides then pursued postgraduate studies in political science at New York University and diplomatic studies at the University of Malta's Mediterranean Academy of Diplomatic Studies.

Nikos Christodoulides earned a PhD in political science and public administration from the University of Athens in 2003.

Nikos Christodoulides lectured and worked as a non-tenure track research associate at the University of Cyprus' History and Archeology Department, teaching the history of the post-war world.

Nikos Christodoulides held various posts, including Director of the Office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Spokesman of the Cyprus Presidency to the Council of the European Union in Brussels, Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of Cyprus to Greece, Director of the Office of the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Consul-General of the High Commission of the Republic of Cyprus to the United Kingdom.

Nikos Christodoulides was appointed Government Spokesman on 14 April 2014, and stepped down upon the conclusion of Nicos Anastasiades' first term on 28 February 2018.

On 1 March 2018, after Anastasiades' re-election, Nikos Christodoulides was appointed to Anastasiades' cabinet as Minister of Foreign Affairs.

In May 2018, Nikos Christodoulides officially asked the United Nations to prepare for a speedy resumption of the reunification process.

In June 2018, Nikos Christodoulides visited Israel and met with prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and president Reuven Rivlin.

In June 2018, Nikos Christodoulides welcomed an announcement by ExxonMobil executives to speed up their schedule to begin drilling operations in Block 10 of the Exclusive Economic Zone.

On 17 July 2018, Nikos Christodoulides met EU High Representative Federica Mogherini in Brussels.

Nikos Christodoulides was made a Knight of the Holy Sepulchre in 2018 and was awarded the Order of the Serbian Flag on 5 April 2021 by president Aleksandar Vucic.

In June 2022, Nikos Christodoulides formally announced his candidacy as an independent candidate despite being a member of the Democratic Rally, which fielded Averof Neofytou as its presidential nominee.

Nikos Christodoulides gathered support from smaller parties, including the Democratic Party, the Movement for Social Democracy, and the Democratic Alignment, while managing to sway a large portion of his former party's supporters.

Nikos Christodoulides declared that his primary focus was finding a solution to the Cyprus problem.

Nikos Christodoulides's proposal was accepted by Antonio Guterres, who appointed Colombian diplomat Maria Angela Holguin Cuellar with the aim of facilitating the diplomatic process.

At a European Council summit on 26 October 2023 and at the 2023 Paris Peace Forum, organized by French president Emmanuel Macron, Nikos Christodoulides presented his initiative to open a maritime corridor between Cyprus and Gaza, intending to deliver aid to Gaza during the Gaza war.

Nikos Christodoulides visited Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and King Abdullah of Jordan to inform them about his proposed humanitarian corridor, while discussing it with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz over the phone.

Nikos Christodoulides declared that Cyprus was in "a state of serious crisis" and called for EU intervention to manage the flow of irregular migrants from nearby Lebanon.

Nikos Christodoulides accepted US President Joe Biden's invitation to visit the White House on 30 October 2024, marking the first time a Cypriot president visited the White House since Glafcos Clerides was received by Bill Clinton in June 1996.

In January 2024, Nikos Christodoulides came under scrutiny by the public and media in both Cyprus and Greece for removing his Minister of Defense Michalis Giorgallas, reportedly after pressure from the Greek government, who disagreed with Giorgallas' stance on a joint defense doctrine.

Nikos Christodoulides has four children with his wife, Philippa Karsera, a diplomat from Dora.

Nikos Christodoulides served at the Cypriot High Commission to the United Kingdom in London and then at the Cypriot Embassy in Athens and the Permanent Representation of Cyprus to the European Union in Brussels.

Nikos Christodoulides was then promoted to Deputy Director of the President's Diplomatic Office at Cyprus' Presidential Palace.