1. Nikos Kotzias was Foreign Minister from 23 September 2015 until his resignation on 17 October 2018; previously he held the same post from 27 January to 28 August 2015.
20 Facts About Nikos Kotzias
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Nikos Kotzias studied economics and Political Science and Philosophy in Athens and Law and Politics of European Integration at the University of Giessen in Germany.
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Nikos Kotzias has specialized in issues of policy and political systems, societies and foreign policy of Brazil, India and Russia.
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Nikos Kotzias has been a member of many globally recognized international research teams on contemporary issues.
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Nikos Kotzias was active as a student in the Lambrakis Democratic Youth and during the right-wing military dictatorship in Greece was a member of the Communist Youth of Greece.
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Nikos Kotzias was a secretary of the Federation of Greek Fraternities in Germany as well as the coordination point of the anti-dictatorship student organizations.
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Nikos Kotzias was often praised for his masterful rhetoric and his profound knowledge of Marxist philosophy.
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Nikos Kotzias broke with the Communist Party after the majority's decision to co-ally with the conservatives in order to bring Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou to trial for corruption.
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Nikos Kotzias is a founding member of Nikos Poulantzas leftist think tank, which was named after a Franco-Greek, Marxist oriented sociologist and political philosopher.
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Nikos Kotzias played an important role during the "spring" of the Greek-Turkish relations in 1999, implementing the "earthquake diplomacy" at the time when the two countries were struck by catastrophic earthquakes.
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Nikos Kotzias has supported the Greek-Turkish rapprochement as a new policy doctrine and introduced the confidence-building measures.
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Nikos Kotzias was the Greek representative in the 2002 Helsinki agreement which regulated Turkey's candidacy status for EU membership and paved the way for Cyprus' accession in 2004.
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In September 2012, Nikos Kotzias founded the progressive and democratic political movement named Pratto, whose purpose is "to form a radical, patriotic, democratic and social movement, advocating the interests of the country, the Greek people, the workers and the Greek natural environment".
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Current Minister of Public Order and Citizen Protection and MP Nikos Kotzias Toskas is a founding member of Pratto.
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Nikos Kotzias speaks Greek, German as native and fluent English.
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Since January 2015 Nikos Kotzias is Foreign Minister in a cabinet in coalition with Independent Greeks, a right wing conservative party that opposes austerity.
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Nikos Kotzias is an advocate of a multidimensional, energetic and democratic attitude towards foreign policy.
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On 27 January 2015, Nikos Kotzias was appointed as Minister of Foreign Affairs, despite not being a member of parliament.
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On 23 September 2015, after the formation of a coalition government between SYRIZA and Independent Greeks, Nikos Kotzias was appointed as Minister of Foreign Affairs for a second time, succeeding the caretaker minister Petros Molyviatis.
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On 17 October 2018 Nikos Kotzias submitted his resignation, a day after a cabinet meeting during which he clashed over the Prespa agreement with Defense Minister Panos Kammenos, who has opposed the deal.