Niyazi Kizilyurek

A keen social researcher, Kizilyurek's work is well respected on both sides of his divided homeland. He is the author of many books in both Greek and Turkish languages.

Niyazi Kizilyurek was born in Potamia, a mixed village in the Nicosia area. His family became refugees during the bi-communal conflict in 1963-64, and moved to the Turkish Cypriot ghetto Lourijina where he lived until 1974. He graduated from the University of Bremen in Germany in 1983, where he also obtained his PhD in 1990. In 1995 he was elected as lecturer for the department of Turkish Studies at the University of Cyprus where he works as an Associate Professor in the Department of Turkish and Middle Eastern Studies, and is also the head of Political Science.