Marios Garoyian (; ; born 31 May 1961) is a Cypriot politician. He served as leader of the Democratic Party from 2006 to 2013 and as President of the House of Representatives of Cyprus from 2008 to 2011.

Early life

Garoyian was born in

Nicosia Nicosia, also known as Lefkosia and Lefkoşa, is the capital and largest city of Cyprus. It is the southeasternmost of all EU member states' capital cities. Nicosia has been continuously inhabited for over 5,500 years and has been the capi ...

. He studied

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

at the

University of Perugia The University of Perugia ( Italian ''Università degli Studi di Perugia'') is a public university in Perugia, Italy. It was founded in 1308, as attested by the Bull issued by Pope Clement V certifying the birth of the Studium Generale. The offi ...

. He has one son and one daughter. He speaks Greek, English, Italian and Spanish fluently. He is of half

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...

and half

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

descent. After the election of

Dimitris Christofias Dimitris (Δημήτρης) is the Modern Greek form of the older forms Demetrios, Dimitrios (Δημήτριος, usually Latinized as Demetrius) and may refer to: * Dimitris Arvanitis (born 1980), Greek professional football defender who plays for ...

as President of the Republic of Cyprus on 24 February 2008, the position of the President of the House of Representatives remained vacant until Garoyian's election to the post on 6 March 2008 by the members of the House.

Parliamentary activities

At the parliamentary elections of 21 May 2006, he was elected Member of the House of Representatives standing as a DIKO candidate in Nicosia. He was elected President of the House of Representatives for the remainder of the Ninth Term of Office of the House. He is a member of the Committee of Selection, of the House Standing Committee on the Environment and of the House Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and an alternate member of the Special House Committee on Declaration and Examination of Financial Interests. He is an alternate member of the delegation of the House to the Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly.

Political and social activities

He was president of the "Anagennisi" student union in Italy (1981) and of the National Student Union of Cypriots in Perugia (1983) and a member of the Executive Committee of the Pancyprian Student and Young Scientists Federation. He was also president of the District Committee of the Youth Organisation of DIKO (NEDIK) in Nicosia and secretary of Unionism of the Labour Department of the party. He was director of the President’s Office of the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

from 1991 to 2001, during the presidency terms of Alexis Galanos and the late Spyros Kyprianou. He was director of the Press Office of the President of the Republic Tassos Papadopoulos and Deputy Government Spokesman from 2003 to 2006. He has been a member of the Central Committee of DIKO since 1988 and a member of the Executive Bureau of the party since 1997. On 22 October 2006 he was elected president of DIKO, a position he held until 2 December 2013.

Publications

Dmitry Medvedev in Cyprus 7 October 2010-15

He has published a series of articles on the Cyprus problem and the European Union, as well as on various topics of wider public interest in the Cyprus and foreign press. As an international and a political analyst he appears regularly in Cypriot and Greek media.

Honorary awards

The

Hellenic Republic Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

has awarded him the cross of the Grand Commander of the Order of Honour.

References

* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Garoyian, Marios 1961 births Cypriot people of Armenian descent Democratic Party (Cyprus) politicians Leaders of political parties in Cyprus Living people Politicians from Nicosia Presidents of the House of Representatives (Cyprus) University of Perugia alumni Ethnic Armenian politicians Cypriot expatriates in Italy