Annan Plan for Cyprus
The
Annan Plan was a rejected
United Nations proposal to bring about the reunification of the divided island nation of
Cyprus as the
United Cyprus Republic. It was named in recognition of
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who largely devised the proposal in conjunction with
Didier Pfirter.
Proposal
The Annan Plan proposed the creation of the United Cyprus Republic, covering the island of Cyprus in its entirety. This new country was to be a federation of two states -- the Greek Cypriot State and the Turkish Cypriot State -- joined together by a minimal federal government apparatus.
This federal level, which was closely based on the Swiss federal model, would have incorporated the following elements: \n*A collective presidential council, made up of six voting members, allocated according to population (per present levels, four Greek Cypriots and two Turkish Cypriots), and selected and voted in by parliament. An additional three non-voting members would be assigned 2:1. \n*A president and vice president, chosen by the presidential council from among its members, one from each community, to rotate in their functions every 20 months during the council's five-year term of office.\n*A bicameral legislature:\n**A senate (upper house), with 48 members, divided 24:24 between the two communities.\n**A chamber of deputies (lower house), with 48 members, divided in proportion to the two communities' populations (with no fewer than 12 for the smaller community). \n*A supreme court composed of equal numbers of Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot judges, plus three foreign judges; to be appointed by the presidential council.
The plan included a federal constitution, a string of constitutional and federal laws, and a proposal for a United Cyprus Republic flag and national anthem. It also provided for a Reconciliation Commission to bring the two communities closer together and resolve outstanding disputes from the past.
It would also have established a limited right to return between the territories of the two communities, and it would have allowed both Greece and Turkey to maintain a permanent military presence on the island, albeit with large, phased reductions in troop numbers.
Negotiations
In January 2002, direct talks under the auspices of Secretary-General Annan began between Republic of Cyprus President Glafcos Clerides (Greek community) and Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus President Rauf Denktash.
In November 2002, Secretary-General Annan released a comprehensive plan for the resolution of the Cyprus issue. It was revised in early December. In the lead up to the European Union's December 2002 Copenhagen Summit, intensive efforts were made to gain both sides' signatures to the document prior to a decision on the island's EU membership. Neither side agreed to sign. The EU invited the Republic of Cyprus to join on 16 December 2002.
Following the Copenhagen Summit, the UN continued dialogue with the two sides with the goal of reaching a settlement prior to Cyprus's signature of the EU accession treaty on 16 April 2003. A third version of the Annan plan was put to the parties in February 2003. That same month the Secretary-General again visited the island and asked that both leaders agree to put the plan to referendum in their respective communities. Also in February 2003, Tassos Papadopoulos was elected as the fifth president of the Republic of Cyprus. On 10 March 2003, this most recent phase of talks collapsed in The Hague, Netherlands, when Denktash told the Secretary-General he would not put the Annan Plan to referendum.
In February 2004, Papadopoulos and Denktash accepted the Secretary-General's invitation to resume negotiations on a settlement on the basis of the Annan plan. After meeting with Annan in New York, talks began on-island on 19 February 2004. The two community leaders, Rauf Denktash and Tassos Papadopoulos, met nearly every day for negotiations facilitated by the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Cyprus, Álvaro de Soto. In addition, numerous technical committees and subcommittees met in parallel in an effort to resolve outstanding issues. Negotiations concluded on 31 March, and the Secretary-General presented to the two sides a proposed final settlement.
Rejection
The plan was placed before the two communities in a parallel and simultaneous crossborder vote in the Cyprus reunification referendum of 24 April 2004. Whilst the proposal received a 65% favorable vote from the Turkish community, the Greek Cypriot community rejected it by three votes to one. Since implementation of the plan was dependent on its approval by both communities, reunification did not take place. If there had been a positive vote on both sides, a unified Cyprus would have acceded to the European Union on 1 May 2004.
Reasons for the rejection of the plan
The main reason for the 75% "No" vote among Greek Cypriots in the referendum was the general perception that the Annan Plan was "unbalanced" and "excessively pro-Turkish". Tassos Papadopoulos, President of the Greek Republic of Cyprus, was openly against the plan and make his opinion known to the people of Cyprus through a national TV speech. Two days before the referendums, Cyprus's biggest party, AKEL, decided to reject the Annan Plan because of its perceived bias. Greek Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis decided to maintain a "neutral" position over the plan, while Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan endorsed it. The Prime Minister of Turkish Cyprus, Mehmet Ali Talat, was also in favour of the plan's acceptance.
In addition, perceptions of pressure from the US, the EU, the United Nations and by great part of the Greek political opposition, namely the PASOK party and its leader George Papandreou, also had a negative effect. Mr. Papandreou gave a TV speech directed to Cypriot People before the Greek Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos did, which was considered unacceptable and provoking by a large part of the community.
There were reservations over the fate of property or humanitarian disputes, which could no longer be brought before an International Court according to the plan, but would have to be settled by a third party set by the warrant forces. An embargo on weapon imports to the Greek Cypriot side, until the Turkish Cypriot side would be able to fully support itself also caused reservations among Greek Cypriots, in part because it didn't apply to the Turkish forces.
On the Turkish Cypriot side, Mr. Rauf Denktash and the Grey Wolves (a Turkish right-wing nationalist party) both actively advocated a no vote. There were some limited riots caused by the Grey Wolves party activists against yes supporters during the pre-vote period. At least 50 such activists had arrived in Northern Cyprus during the pre-voting period.
Source
External links
\n*The Annan Plan: full text and additional information from the United Nations\n*Cyprus Decides: a bipartisan information resource about the Plan
