TRACING AN ENVOY’S JOURNEY
Cyprus Ambassador to Qatar HE Dr. Michalis A. Zacharioglou will display his paintings titled ‘A Diplomat’s Journey’, at Katara Cultural Foundation
AMBASSADOR of the Republic of Cyprus to Qatar HE Dr. Michalis A. Zacharioglou will launch an exhibition of his paintings, titled ‘A Diplomat’s Journey’, in Building 18 at Katara Cultural Village on October 17. The exhibition is being organised by the Embassy of Cyprus in collaboration with Cultural Foundation-Katara. The exhibition will remain open from October 17 to October 28.
An amazing personality with extraordinary talent, Dr. Zacharioglou is a graduate from City University, New York with majors in mass communication and psychology. He is also a doctorate in Political Science specialising in policy making from the US.
An artist, poet, sportsman, music instruments player and a former special forces officer of his country, he is a man of multifaceted talents. He served in Special Forces until having stars as a lieutenant from where he moved to the diplomatic corps. Dr. Zacharioglou was born in Nicosia, Cyprus where he pursued education until high school in the British medium. By that time, he was already fluent in English, Italian and Greek languages. As he reached age 18 he served in the defense forces as it’s obligatory in Cyprus to do so. As a teenager he served in the National Guards for 26 months. Later, he served in the Special Forces for around two years.
Talking to Qatar Tribune,
Dr. Zacharioglou said that from a very young age, he has had a deep passion for sports like football, swimming and table tennis. He played in local youth teams during his school days in Nicosia. During his higher studies in the US, he played in Community Premier League, Pennsylvania, USA.
He said he was good at the offensive side as a mid-fielder -- in the US, it’s known as ‘Position 8’ in football.
Talking about his interest and love for art, especially painting, he said he has been always in love with this art as well as any classical creation.
Right from his youth days, whenever he got an opportunity to travel to European countries, the first thing he would do there was to visit art galleries. His wife too is an artist. She was involved very much in art-related activities and was a regular at ‘School Ever Learning’, an institution for people of all ages.
While his wife kept herself busy in her hobbies, Dr. Zacharioglou used to spend his time with his children. It was in 2012 when one day, on his wife’s insistence, he accompanied her to the ‘School Ever Learning’. The instructor asked him to draw some lines so he made a sketch of sandy beach.
“Seeing the sketch, the instructor thought I was an expert and asked how long I had been drawing? The instructor thought a newcomer couldn’t have made that kind of sketch. However, this was the first time I had drawn something close to my liking,” the ambassador recalled.
That was the day, he said, when ‘artist’ Michalis A. Zacharioglou was born.
Talking about his forthcoming exhibition, he said as many as 45 of his paintings will be displayed.
As for his other extracurricular activities, The Cypriot ambassador said he has a passion for playing guitar and piano and he loves folk, Greek and English music. He also loves poetry and composes his own poems too. His poems revolve around social, natural, war and philosophical thoughts.
The envoy said he is fluent in the Greek, Italian, German languages and fair in Spanish and French.
Talking about the QatarCyprus bilateral ties, he said both the countries enjoy excellent relations. The capitals of the two countries are connected with two daily flights of Qatar Airways. Qatari nationals get three-year multiple visa, free of charge.
As for the tourist volume, he said 4,000 visas were issued in 2018.
He said he is working to arrange a 10-member team of Philharmonic Orchestra from Cyprus to visit Qatar to perform with Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra early next year. He said his embassy is also working to arrange visits of various trade and cultural groups to Qatar. “We’ll have a number of delegations by the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar,” he said.
A total 20 memorandums of understanding (MoUs) have been signed between the two countries prior to his tenure, since the opening of the Cyprus embassy in Doha. there are also a few MoUs in the pipeline in the areas of Labour, Culture and Education.
As many as 624 Cypriots are currently serving in Qatar, Dr. Zacharioglou said in his closing remarks.