On March 1st 2023, Cyprus’ new President Nikos Christodoulides, takes office. Join us for a discussion on the significance of this election and its likely implication for Cyprus’ future. What geopolitical and domestic socioeconomic developments would determine the incoming President’s agenda?
Speakers
Emine Çolak, lawyer, member of The Mediterranean Women Mediators Network
George Georgiou, economic correspondent and analyst to International and Cypriot media
Anna Koukkides Prokopiou, Senior Fellow, Center for European and International Affairs, University of Nicosia; Consultant, International Crisis Group Europe, Central Asia Program
Moderator
Cleopatra Kitti, Senior Policy Advisor, Mediterranean Program, Eliamep
The invitation is available here.
Emine Çolak is a London trained Lawyer/Barrister and has been practising at the Turkish Cypriot Bar since 1982. Since then, she has also trained and worked in mediation, negotiation, facilitation and conflict resolution. She has extensive experience in defending cases on civil liberties, political and human rights and is behind several important precedents set in the Turkish Cypriot courts. She has also been an NGO activist for decades in the fields of reconciliation, fundamental human rights and was instrumental in the formation of specific NGO’s to work in gender equality, refugee, patients and LGBTQ+ rights. She is a founder and was also Chairperson for 10 years of the Turkish Cypriot Human Rights Foundation. Emine worked directly in the preparatory stage of the Annan Plan before the referendum in 2004, coordinating teams negotiating the treaties and laws to be attached to the comprehensive settlement. Between 2015 and 2016 she served as the Turkish Cypriot Minister for Foreign Affairs.Emine Çolak is a member of Women Mediators across the Commonwealth Network and a member of its Steering Committee as well as being a member of the Mediterranean Women Mediators Network and a co-founder of its Cyprus Antenna.
George Georgiou is a freelance journalist, columnist, economic news commentator and a podcaster. Since 2013, he has been a stringer for Bloomberg News and from 2022, he is a commentator on economic and financial stories for Alpha TV news programs and website. From 2017 until 2022, he was the co-presenter of “Show me the Money”, a daily radio production on economic news for “Politis 107,6” and a columnist for the Sunday edition of “Politis” newspaper. Since 2020, he is the co-producer of the financial literacy podcast and website “Kounato stin tsepi sou”. He holds a BA in political science from the University of Cyprus and Msc on International Development, from the University of Bath
Anna Koukkides-Procopiou works as a Consultant on the Turkey/Cyprus project of the Europe and Central Asia Programme of the International Crisis Group. She is a Senior Fellow and Member of the Advisory Board of the Cyprus Center for European and International Affairs, University of Nicosia. Her research and published academic work focuses on foreign policy, inclusive security and gender. An accredited Cyprus expert for the World Bank, she has also worked on Liberia, Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova and Turkmenistan via projects run by UN Women, the OSCE, Interpeace, CMI – Martti Ahtisaari Peace Foundation, Helsinki, the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation, SeeD Centre for Sustainable Peace and Democratic Development, as well as projects funded by the State Department, the German and the Dutch Foreign Ministries. She often participates and contributes as an expert in working groups run by the European Commission, the European Parliament, the Council of Europe and the Union for the Mediterranean. A founding member of the Israel-Hellenic Forum, she is also a member of the UN Senior Women Talent Pipeline team of experts, based in New York.
