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Nikos Anastasiadis, or Nicos Anastasiades (Greek: Νίκος Αναστασιάδης [ˈnikos anastasiˈaðis] Níkos Anastasiádis; born 27 September 1946) is a Cypriot politician who has been President of Cyprus since 2013. Previously, he was leader of the center-right political party Democratic Rally (DISY).
Nicos Anastasiades, Photo: Augusta Stylianou, Artist
Education
Anastasiades is a lawyer by profession and he is the founder of law firm "Nicos Chr. Anastasiades & Partners".[1] He graduated in law from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and completed postgraduate studies in shipping law at University College London. During his university studies, he was a member of the Centre Coalition based in Athens formed by Georgios Papandreou.[2]
Political career
Anastasiades was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1981 and has been leader of his party since 8 June 1997.[3]
Military conscription
Angela Merkel with Nicos Anastasiades in 2007 at the EPP summit.
During his electoral campaign for the post of Cyprus President in 2013, he announced his commitment to reduce military conscription in Cyprus to 14 months during the first hundred days of his term.[4]
Cyprus problem
Anastasiadis supported the Annan Plan for Cyprus, even though a majority (61%) of his party voted it down. Some of his intra-party opposition were even calling for Anastasiadis to step down.[5] Many party cadres were up in arms over Anastasiadis' letter to the European Parliament alleging that the government trampled on free speech and human rights during the campaign.[clarification needed – what campaign?] The government cited the National Television Council's data that showed that the six parties supporting the "No" vote got as much air time as the two that supported the UN plan.[6]
Joining NATO
In February 2011, the House of Representatives voted to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's Partnership for Peace programme, the final step for Cyprus to join NATO. Under the initiative of Nicos Anastasiades, parties DISY, DIKO, EDEK and EK supported the resolution. However, President Demetris Christofias of AKEL vetoed it, stating that such membership was not in line with his vow to achieve a peace deal with Turkish Cypriots.[7]
China relations
Herman Van Rompuy and Nicos Anastasiades in Brussels
In September He Guoqiang, a member of China's top leadership and Nicos Anastasiades—who was on an official visit to China—expressed readiness to advance China-Cyprus relations in a healthy and stable way.[8] During the meeting, he[who?] said that the Communist Party of China is ready to deepen friendly cooperation with the Democratic Rally by exchanging experience on governance and administration of the country. Anastasiades said Cyprus is ready to strengthen cooperation with China in the fields of energy, investment and tourism. He also expressed readiness to increase exchanges between his party, the Democratic Rally, and the CPC and play an active role in promoting relations between Europe and China.[9]
President of Cyprus
In March 2012, Nicos Anastasiades was nominated as a candidate for the 2013 Cypriot presidential election, against his rival MEP Eleni Theocharous in a vote among the 1,008 strong executive of the Democratic Rally.[10] Nicos Anastasiades earned 673 votes (86.73%) and MEP Theocharous 103 (13.27%). On the first round of the presidential election on 17 February 2013, Anastasiades won 45% of votes, while Stavros Malas and George Lillikas earned 26.9% and 24.9%, respectively.[11] He won in the second round with 57.48% of the vote.
Personal life
He married Andri Moustakoudi in 1971 and has two daughters.[2] He has a twin brother and a sister.[12]
Distinctions
First Vice-president of the delegation of the House to the EU-Cyprus Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC).
Leader of the delegation of the House to the Association of Asian Parliaments for Peace (Asian Parliamentary Assembly (APA) since 2008).
Leader of the delegation of the House to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean (PAM).
Leader of the delegation of the House to the Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly (EMPA) (Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean since 2010).[13]
Leader of the delegation of the House to the Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly (EMPA) (Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean since 2010).
Vice-president of the Executive Committee of the Cyprus Group to the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU).
Member of the delegation of the House to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean and of the delegation of the House to the Asian Parliamentary Assembly (APA).[13]
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