Ambassador Erato Kozakou-Marcoullis

By Janet McMahon

While one’s first—and correct—impression of Cypriot Ambassador Erato Kozakou-Marcoullis is of a warm and charming woman, it doesn’t take long to discover that underneath her gracious exterior lies an extremely hard worker.

Not only is she her country’s “ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary” to the United States, but she also represents the Republic of Cyprus in Canada—which she describes as “a very important country to us”—and is designated high commissioner to Brazil and the Caribbean countries of the Bahamas, Barbados and Guyana.

Prior to her present assignment, moreover, she was Cypriot ambassador to Sweden and accredited simultaneously to Finland, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

Asked about her current posting, the ambassador observed that one of her greatest challenges here is Americans’ “lack of awareness—even of where Cyprus is. So you always have to start from scratch,” she said. “It’s very time-consuming—but necessary.

“Congress has a lot of understanding [of the Cyprus issue],” she added—but she is not content to leave it at that. “I’m on a crusade to meet all the congressmen,” Kozakou-Marcoullis stated. “So far I’ve met with about 50.”

When she does talk to Americans about the Cyprus problem, she said, she frequently finds “an open ear and friendly voices from many areas.” She cited as a recent example the “positive response” she received during her May visit to Atlanta, where she met with former President Jimmy Carter. She also met with the Atlanta City Council, which adopted in her presence a proclamation naming May 17 as “Cyprus Unity and Peace Day” and urging President Clinton to “intensify his efforts” toward finding a solution for Cyprus.

(Previously, after meeting with the possible Republican presidential candidate, Kozakou-Marcoullis received the ultimate accolade: she was named an “honorary Texan” by Gov. George W. Bush.)

Nevertheless, she said, “being a small country, without all the power politics and strategic interests [of a world power] makes it difficult to penetrate” not only public awareness, but also the attention of American media, universities, think tanks, and other institutions. In addition, Turkey, which already had a powerful lobby, she said, “has reaped additional benefits from its alliance with Israel.”

“The fact that there is no war [on Cyprus] does not mean that there is peace,” the ambassador emphasized. “Cyprus is a potential volcano, and [unless there is a solution] there will be a point when it will explode—and no one can predict the results.

“Greek Cypriots are committed to a peaceful solution, and we have stated that we will take no aggressive actions—but we should not be penalized for this decision by being ignored!

“Of course,” she added, “we have a just cause, based on international law and principles, so we don’t have to defend our position, which makes it easier” to present her country’s case.

“Although we are always waiting for the right opportunity to advance hope and progress,” the Cypriot ambassador stated, “for [Turkish Prime Minister Bulent] Ecevit the Cyprus problem was solved—by him—in 1974” when, as Turkish prime minister, he oversaw the invasion of Cyprus.

More recently, the results of Turkey’s latest elections, according to Kozakou-Marcoullis, “couldn’t be worse. Ecevit said it himself, when he condemned the Grey Wolves after the student massacres of the 1980s: having them in the government would be ‘like putting a bomb in your brains.’ And that’s exactly what’s happened with these elections.”

Cyprus itself has had a violent experience with the right-wing group. In 1996, she said, some 3,000 Grey Wolves came to Cyprus in anticipation of an attempt by Greek Cypriots to cross the Green Line which divides the island. “It was the Grey Wolves,” she said, “who beat that young [Greek Cypriot] man to death in the buffer zone.”

In addition, according to the ambassador, the Grey Wolves have honored Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash and “are trying to recruit students from schools in northern Cyprus.”

Ambassador Kozakou-Marcoullis describes herself as engaging in “preventive diplomacy.” She is convinced it is important to the world, as well as to the region, “to eliminate another flashpoint.

“I think the U.S. has realized in the past two years or so,” she stated, “that it is in their vital interest to solve the Cyprus problem.”

The ambassador is a native of Limassol—as is her husband, Dr. George Marcoullis, an oncologist with a practice on Cyprus. “We met at 16 and married at 20,” Kozakou-Marcoullis relates, “so we’ve really grown up together, and have common ideas about life.”

Asked if her husband is a feminist, the ambassador did not hesitate. “Of course!” she laughed. “I would not be here otherwise!” Their son, Panos, is a junior at the University of Michigan, where he is studying for a B.A. in political science and economics. “He is a good public speaker,” Kozakou-Marcoullis said, “and I think he will be a good politician or lawyer.” (“Like his mother,” an observer cannot fail to note.)

While her schedule prohibits frequent travel to Cyprus, the ambassador’s husband visits her in Washington as often as possible. Making the most of their time together, the couple took advantage of his last visit to travel to Michigan to be with their son.

The future ambassador grew up in an artistic family. “During the [British-imposed] curfews, the whole family would be around the table painting,” she recalls. Her sister, Olga, now is a professional artist and lives with her husband in Greece. “The rest of us were amateurs,” Kozakou-Marcoullis explains.

But not only amateur painters: “We all write,” she said, as if that were the most natural thing in the world. “I write poetry, my sister writes prose.” (“Copper Island,” the ambassador’s poem about her homeland, was recently published as part of a profile of her in The Washington Post.)

Not only is Ambassador Kozakou-Marcoullis fluent in Greek and English, she speaks and reads French, Finnish and Russian well. These linguistic talents reflect her family and personal history. Her mother was born and spent her early years in Russia. (The ambassador’s charcoal portrait of her mother hangs in the dining room of her official residence.)

After attending the University of Athens—where they spent several frantic weeks trying to get home and make sure their families were safe following the 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus—the Kozakou-Marcoullises pursued postgraduate studies in Finland. They then moved to New York City, where George Marcoullis had obtained work as a medical researcher, his first profession.

The ambassador had studied law, political science and sociology, but had not yet decided how she wanted to apply her knowledge. She found the answer in New York. As she put it, “As soon as I got acquainted with the U.N., I said, ‘This is it!”

Attracted by the multiplicity of countries, cultures and causes she found there, Kozakou-Marcoullis spent much of the 1980s working with the Cypriot delegation to the United Nations. “Perhaps because I’m from a small country,” she theorized, “I wanted to work in as many different areas as possible. Working on the Namibia crisis was one of the most exciting and rewarding aspects of my time at the U.N., in part because the world thought that problem [of the former South West Africa] would never be solved.”

In 1996, Kozakou-Marcoullis was named Cypriot ambassador to Sweden, an EU country that has participated “for many years” in the U.N. peacekeeping force on Cyprus. As a result, she said, the public is more aware and “it was much easier to convince the Swedes of our intentions, of our goals, and of our cause.”

The new ambassador was also impressed with the percentage of women in government, noting that when she served in Sweden half the members of parliament were women. “All the parties in Sweden voluntarily agreed to adopt a quota of 50 percent,” Kozakou-Marcoullis said. “After about 10 years they lifted the quota, and today women constitute 43 percent of elected members of parliament.”

While the Republic of Cyprus—not to mention the U.S.—cannot claim such an impressive legislative record, 6 of its 35 ambassadors are women. President Glafcos Clerides hopes to increase the representation of women in the parliament to 30 percent within the next five years.

Although a typical ambassadorship lasts four years, after two years in Sweden Kozakou-Marcoullis was asked to assume leadership of the Washington embassy. “I left Sweden with mixed feelings,” she said, “because I felt I was at the peak of my involvement there.” She also had grown to love the abundant natural beauty of that part of the world—“its green trees and woods, and water everywhere”—as well as Sweden’s “deep-rooted respect for culture.”

However, she admitted, “one cannot refuse such a challenge.” The first part of her challenge last year was logistical. “I left Sweden on Aug. 31,” she said, “and started here Sept. 1.”

In addition to the small size of the Embassy of Cyprus, with just three diplomatic officers and one assistant at the official residence, the ambassador often must “perform the role of spouse as well as ambassador.” This, of course, results in a greater workload than her male counterparts face. “But I can manage,” she stated simply.

Indeed, in her dual role, Kozakou-Marcoullis has joined some spouses’ clubs, in the belief that the members of these clubs have an important role to play in the diplomatic community.

She also has brought to the U.S. a personal innovation from Sweden, where she had formed a group of her fellow women ambassadors. In Washington, there are currently 12 female ambassadors, of a total of 185. They try to meet as often as possible, given their schedules. To date, they’ve managed to do so four times in the eight months since Ambassador Kozakou-Marcoullis arrived. “We invite American officials, legislators and cultural figures to our meetings,” she said, “to help us get to know the American culture and community better.”

The guests at one of the women ambassadors’ meetings were congresswomen and high-ranking women in the Clinton administration, who were so impressed with the experience that they are talking about forming their own organization.

Clearly, Ambassador Erato Kozakou-Marcoullis is a woman of impressive expertise and influence. What drives her, however, is the plight of her compatriots. “So many people have died with their dreams of going back home unrealized,” she lamented. “They were never again able to visit their parents’ graves, or the village church where they were baptized.”

Having helped secure the liberation of Namibia, she knows the impossible can happen. And she is without question a diplomat who knows how to use that knowledge.

Janet McMahon is the managing editor of the Washington Report.