Political Career
Following the Turkish invasion of 1974, he established and directed the "Service for the Relief and Rehabilitation of Displaced Persons" on directions from the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Cyprus. He later also established the "Service for the Reintegration of Displaced Persons". Iacovou's work for refugees has had an important impact on subsequent developments in Cyprus including what has been dubbed the Cypriot "economic miracle". In this capacity Iacovou became a close associate of Archbishop Makarios, the first President of the Republic of Cyprus. He also became one of the most articulate advocates of the rights of displaced persons in Cyprus, who form a core issue of the wider Cyprus problem. His work in the field has been nationally and internationally acknowledged and his exposure to these people’s problems influenced his subsequent career. He is considered one of the ablest administrators of Cyprus and is often referred to as the technocrat with the big heart. From April 1976 until January 1979 he served as Head of the Africa Department of the UN High Commission for Refugees in Geneva.
From January 1979 until January 1983 he was Ambassador of the Cyprus Republic to the Federal Republic of Germany with parallel accreditation to Austria and Switzerland and later on he served as Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
On 22 September 1983 he was appointed Foreign Minister and remained in this post until February 1993. His first appointment to this office came just before the illegal and unilateral declaration of "independence" by the Turkish Cypriot leadership in 1983. Nevertheless, he successfully pursued the condemnation of this action in the United Nations Security Council through the adoption of SC Resolutions 541 and 550. As Minister of Foreign Affairs, he negotiated Cyprus’ Customs Union Agreement with the then European Economic Community (“EEC”) in 1987 and in 1990 he submitted the application of Cyprus to join the EEC. In 2003 Mr Iacovou signed the Treaty of Accession of Cyprus to the European Union (“EU”).
Later on he was appointed by the Greek Government President of the National Foundation for the Reception and Resettlement of Repatriated Greeks. His programme for the integration of several hundred thousand persons of Greek origin returning to Greece from the former Soviet Union was met with great success. He masterminded operation Golden Fleece, the liberation of fifteen hundred men, women and children of Greek origin from the besieged city of Sukhumi in Abkhazia and later participated in a similar operation in the city of Groznyy in Chechnya. Iacovou founded several University Departments for the teaching of the Greek language in countries of the former Soviet Union.
Read more about this topic: Georgios Iacovou
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