Markos Kyprianou

Who is Markos Kyprianou?

Márkos Kyprianoú is a Cypriot politician who served as a Minister of Foreign Affairs until his official resignation in 19 July 2011, following the events of the Evangelos Florakis Naval Base explosion. A member of the Democratic Party, he was formerly Cyprus's Finance Minister and the European Commissioner for Health. He tendered his resignation as Commissioner on 29 February 2008 to become Foreign Minister in the government of newly elected President Dimitris Christofias; the resignation took effect on 3 March 2008, when his successor, Androulla Vassiliou, was confirmed as Commissioner.

He studied Law at the Law School of the University of Athens and at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he specialised in International Law and Tax Law and was awarded a Master’s degree in Law. He earned a second Master’s degree in Law, specialising in Company Law and Taxation, at Harvard Law School. He continued his academic career as a trainee at the Human Rights Commission of the Council of Europe and by carrying out research in International Law at the University of Cambridge.

He is the younger son of Spyros Kyprianou, who was President of Cyprus from 1977 to 1988.