As a non-cypriot, I would like to hear this subs opinion about the Annan Plan (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annan_Plan). If the referandum was held again with the exact same content, what would be your vote? If you have the time please explain your reasons and how you would like this problem to be solved. Also let me know if I am being ignorant by taking part in a nation’s politics which I am not a part of.
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20 comments
Its better to have half of Cuprus become a Tourkish protectorate rather than all of it!! Therefor no
According to Anan plan: rebublic of cyprus will give water territories to british. The specific water territories happened to be the biggest gas reservoirs in middle east. (What a coincedence!)
So no from my side.
You’re not ignorant for taking an interest in another countries politics, but if I may say I bet you’re mainland Turkish since they’re the only ones I ever see still bringing up the Annan Plan. It’s a bit of a redundant question really since the referendum on the Annan Plan was nearly 20 years ago. There have been more recent negotiations since then (2017 Crans-Montana) and the frameworks from those (ultimately failed) negotiations would likely be the basis for any hypothetical future negotiations that occur. I think for me the main detracting point about the Annan Plan is that Kofi Annan came up with the majority of it since the two sides themselves weren’t able to reach an agreement at the time. I don’t like the idea of some foreigner who doesn’t know shit about Cyprus thinking he can solve our problems for us, even if we’ve proven unable to do so ourselves so far. Whatever solution eventually comes has to be one by Cypriot people, for Cypriot people. Not by whoever happens to be heading the UN at that time.
Also not important but I HATE the Annan Plan flag for Cyprus, it looks like a rip off Armenian flag and I think ‘🇨🇾’ is just fine given it’s symbolism (designed by a TC, no Turkish red/ Greek blue, no Christian/Muslim symbols, olive branches representing peace between the two communities which is a nice goal to strive for even though, again, we haven’t managed to achieve that yet)
11 GC traitors voting yes (so far)
There was a recent opinion article in the Cyprus Mail, claiming that the referendum question was asked in the wrong way. I don’t think that was the reason the plan was rejected, but the article has an interesting suggestion: have consultative referendums first before new negotiations. Apparently it was our current president’s suggestion, but I haven’t seen it anywhere in the news except here.
https://cyprus-mail.com/2023/04/16/the-cyprus-referendum-an-example-of-how-not-to-ask-a-question/
Cyprus doesn’t consist of just GCs and TCs
what if I’m not from cyprus????
We cannot have a continued Turkish military presence on the island. Any plan with such will be a no vote from me.
I voted no but I’m not entirely sure where I stand with how to solve it. Better than that plan though although my cousin in CY would disagree.
I’m dual (Canadian) so maybe if enough Cypriot diaspora votes towards a new solution that would help?
In October 2004, President of the Republic Tassos Papadopoulos publicly charged that people and organisations in Cyprus were paid by the United States through UNOPS to promote the ‘yes’ vote in the referendum of 24 April 2004.
For an entire month, this was the leading item on the news. At the end of this whole debate, all that was retained by public opinion was that, indeed, some people in Cyprus took money from the US in order to support the Annan plan.
The bribing of people and organisations in the period before the referendum is often cited as an argument by both journalists and politicians, as if this was an unquestionable reality.
The present investigation, based on all available primary sources and an evaluation of the information broadcast by the TV channels and published in newspapers, proves that this ‘reality’ was constructed by the government’s propaganda machine, the television channels and government-friendly press.
https://youtu.be/f7LiG9ZWUDY
Nah mainly cause u can honestly get that by just removing UN n Turkish military presence from the north and central part of the island n have another country like France or some shit bring in some troops just to help maintain the peace for a certain amount of time and we also won’t be giving up our water territories that hold gas reservoirs to the British in the process
No, for many reasons.
I read the plan when it came out, and compared it to other federations and I was shocked on how bad and divisive it was. The only country which came close to be so bad was Bosnia, a country which according to BBC:
>It is considered one of the most corruption-prone states in Europe, mainly on account of the legacy of deep ethnic and political divisions left by the 1992-1995 war and by the country’s complex administrative framework.
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>The 1995 Dayton peace agreement brought to an end the bloodshed of the 1992-1995 war but **entrenched the results of “ethnic cleansing”, cementing the divide in the country**.
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>Critics of Dayton said the entities it created were too close to being states in their own right and that **the arrangement reinforced separatism and nationalism at the expense of integration.**
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>Negotiations to amend the existing constitution, established by Dayton in order to strengthen state institutions and transform the country into a non-ethnic parliamentary democracy, have so far failed to make much progress.
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>[https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-17211937](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-17211937)
The Annan plan was a “unification” plan in name only. In practice it would legalize the results of the Turkish invasion and ethnic cleansing, upgrading the “trnc” from a pseudo state to a legal Turkish state (making the north officially Turkish), while at the same time it would downgrade our side and equate us to the renamed “trnc”, in a loose 50%-50% partnership where we would no longer be able to take any decision as a country without the approval of the Turks (TCs & Settlers), making the whole island a Turkish protectorate.
Yes, we compromised to accept a federation, but this result would be far worst than any prosperous federation (USA, Germany, Russia, Switzerland, Belgium etc).
For example, according to the Annan plan:
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>Article 3 Constitution as supreme law
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>2. The federal government shall fully respect and not infringe upon the
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>powers and functions of the constituent states under this Constitution.
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>Each constituent state shall fully respect and not infringe upon the
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>powers and functions of the federal government or the other constituent
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>state under this Constitution. **There shall be no hierarchy between**
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>**federal and constituent state laws**
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Constitution of the Swiss Confederation:
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>Art. 49 Supremacy of and Respect for Federal Law
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>1 Federal law takes precedence over contrary cantonal law.
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>2 The Confederation shall ensure that the Cantons respect federal law.
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Also in Switzerland, Belgium, USA, Russia and every other proper federation, there is no discrimination among their citizens. The division is just on territory. The citizens are equal and free to live with full political rights in any state of their country they choose. This wouldn’t be the case in Cyprus with the Annan plan.
Another issue is the compensations for our refugees. Today Turkey is responsible for paying the compensations, with the Annan plan Turkey would be off the hook, and we (the Cypriot taxpayer – mainly GCs) would be responsible for paying the billions needed to compensate those who lost their properties.
Yet another issue is that while the Turkish side would get everything in the agreement from day 1, we would only receive a promise from Turkey to return some land (7% ) gradually in the future. There was no guarantee that this would actually happen.
I would need to write an essay to explain everything, but the essence is that the Annan plan wasn’t really a unification plan, but a partition plan that benefited the Turks on our expense, hence the result.
It was not a good plan. Turkey was taking everything it wanted without paying any price for the things it has done.
1) keeping national and not internationl guarantees
2) similar plan like Imvros and Tenedos / a little further from Alexandretta
3) plan according to Ahmed Davudoglu book Strategic Depth were he explains how the new turkish imperium works
4) non democratically due to the reduction of value in votes.
5) legalising the turkish practise of settlement (war crime and turkish practice as per the AD book)
Could elaborate further but those are the main… Without elaborating on the british.
People have said this already in well-written detail, but basically the division won’t actually go away. This proposed path doesn’t center around Cypriots. Any path forward must be for us such that we are set up for a healthy and sustainable future.
As an EU member state and a country considered first world for the most part, we sometimes overlook the systems and efforts of other countries that were colonies, but observing their failings and successes could be a real help in drafting a better plan. What is the north if not a colony? What are the British bases if not colonies? Even the buffer zone is not actually free land. Maybe they’re not strictly colonies but the concept stands and we definitely need some decolonization in our discussion.
GC: no. I support a federal socialist state where all working class people are equal with respect to the federal government but the communities have certain levels of autonomy, historical injustices such as the refugee and settler question is fairly resolved through consensus of working class people, and all British, Greek and Turkish military bases are entirely closed and all three of those countries fuck off from the island. All nationalists and chauvinists of any community are put into prison (I am 100% serious), and education freely happens in both Turkish and Greek (and everyone is encouraged to learn both languages). The goal will be to eventually move towards a unitary socialist state as nationalism and ethnoreligious division and inequality breaks down and the Cypriot people are united by everything they have in common including their shared working class character which 80% of Cypriots today experience anyway.
It’s obvious we need a bizonal bicommunal federation but the Annan Plan would have returned a dysfunctional and flawed state and what‘s most concerning is it gave very little reassurance it could actually be carried out because of the vagueness of its demilitarisation clauses. The agreements reached subsequently such as Christofias-Talat and the Guterres Framework solve most of this issues and would definitely be acceptable. What we need is a leadership that will push for continuation from the progress that has already been made and reassure our commitment to the agreed framework.
It is good that non-cypriots show interest. Most just assume there are two states.
I do not think the Anan plan would have been a success. Partitioning or trying to partition countries into 2 communities has a very poor track record (Ireland, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Palestine, etc.). Let alone 2 communities that both have refugees and a foreign invasion force.
In fact, I do not believe in the concept of a solution from one day to the next. This concept is old-fashioned, major powers putting together a bunch of new rules, and suddenly everything is solved move on.
If you actually look at the situation on the ground, we are seeing the step by step seeds of a solution. There is movement between the two sides. Turkish Cypriots have Cypriot passports, which they are using not only to emmigrate but also to live and work outside the occupied area. Bonds are forming between the communities that did not exist before.
My personal view is that a Swiss style approach, where direct democracy and strong local power slowly brings in the occupied areas into a federal republic. By not explicitly defining 2 communities, the Swiss have been able to forge a multi-lingual, multicultural national society. It won’t happen overnight, but already, the divestment of power to the Eparxies is the first step.
So lets pretend we all voted yes. The very next day the Cyprus National Guard (the country’s military) would be disbanded. The Turkish occupying forces would have a window of 20 years to reduce their numbers. Even after 20 years they were given the “right” to keep a detachment. This opens some questions:
Who, in his right mind, suggests that an EU member is left without a functioning military, while allowing a non-EU country that currently illegally occupies part of EU territory to keep its own army?
With Turkey’s approach to human rights, and its unfortunately rich history of genocide, expansionism, usurping, suppression of human rights who exactly can guarantee that the occupying force will not simply attack and wipe out the other ethnic groups? Similarly the Turkish military can attack TC who are critical of whoever is the PM in Ankara.
Since 1974 and despite efforts from the EU, UN, most developed countries and even delegations from the two main ethnic groups (GC and TC) the biggest obstacle for the reunification of Cyprus was Turkey. Even if the two communities agreed on a solution, no one can enforce it upon Turkey and to facilitate a withdrawal of even a single Turkish soldier. Who would impose the Annan plan? Who would force Turkey to abide by it?
What would happen when members of the two groups will disagree during the property exchanges? I dont mean a widespread civil war, but some disagreements will occur. Would anyone trust the occupying force to stay put and not use it as an excuse to carry out attrocities?
And mind you this answer only covers security. With the disolution of the RoC to create a new state there are countless problems that will arise. And the new state would be very undemocratic. In a democracy each individual is treated the same and has the same voting power. Under the Annan plan the 18% would have the same political power as the 72%. So essentially the Annan plan would create a chaotic situation, where the new state would be a hostage to Turkey.
I don’t want to repeat what everyone said but this plan basically makes the the Turkish invasion legimate and fucks GCs in every way possible, while also not solving any of the current problems at all.