Niyazi was born in 1959 in Potamia village. Due to the bi-comunal clashes of 1964 his family moved to the Louroutzina conclave and lived there as refugees until 1974. After 1974 they all moved to Argaki village. He finished high-school in Morfou (1977).

He studied in Bremen at the Department of Social and Political Sciences of the University of Bremen. He successfully completed his postgraduate and in 1990 he graduated with a PhD and a Summa Cum Laude.

Between 1995 and 2019 he taught at the Department of Turkish and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Cyprus and served as Chair of the Department as well as Dean of the School of Humanities.

In 2019 Niyazi was elected as a Member of the European Parliament from the list of AKEL. He is a full Member and coordinator of GUE/NGL in the Culture and Education Committee of the European Parliament (CULT). He is also a substitute Member of the Committee on Regional Development (REGI). He is also a substitute Member in the Special Committee on foreign interference in all democratic processes in the EU formed by the European Parliament.

He published more than 20 books in several languages, most of which deal with the Cyprus Problem. Apart from his writings on Cypriot History, Nationalism and Contemporary Turkey, he has written more than 100 scientific publications. Since 2006 he a columnist in Yenidüzen newspaper. He also publishes articles in several Turkish- and Greek- Cypriot newspapers.

He collaborated with director Panikos Chrysanthou and together they created the documentary titled “Our Wall” and recently they completed the documentary “bullets and flowers” (λουλούδια και σφαίρες). Together with Michalis Theodorou, they co-founded the bilingual (Greek and Turkish) Cypriot publishing house “Heterotopia”.

In 1997 Niyazi Kızılyürek was awarded the Peace and Friendship Prize Abdi İpekçi for his efforts to promote Greek-Turkish friendship and the rapprochement of the two communities in Cyprus. In 2006, the French state honored him with the distinction “Knight of the Academic Phoenix” for his scientific contribution and his struggle for peace in Cyprus. He was a member of the European Cultural Parliament for over a decade.