The Annan Plan and its rejection by 76% of Greek Cypriots continue to be a point of reference and contention within and between the two communities in Cyprus.
One of the many aspects that fuel public debate regarding that period was the stance taken by the then President of the Republic, Tassos Papadopoulos.
AKEL, which was part of Papadopoulos’ government at the time, occasionally takes critiques of how the former President behaved during that period.
On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the 2004 referendum on the Annan Plan, the Republican Turkish Party organised a conference featuring speakers from both communities.
One of the speakers was the former General Secretary of AKEL, Andros Kyprianou, who made some anniversary remarks targeting Tassos Papadopoulos.
During his speech, Andros Kyprianou chose, as he himself noted, to be brief so as not to “reopen wounds and provoke emotions in both communities.”
According to the former AKEL General Secretary, “the unacceptable provisions in the Plan that could not be accepted by the Greek Cypriots were due to Turkey’s uncompromising positions.”
Kyprianou also noted, “Unfortunately, T. Papadopoulos did not show determination and persistence in negotiations to achieve the best possible outcome.” He then cited Demetris Christofias’ reference that he had tried persuasively to convince T. Papadopoulos to meet the demands of the Turkish Cypriot side, “Unfortunately, he failed to convince him, resulting in a voluminous document that could not be accepted.”
Kyprianou concluded by reminding that “T. Papadopoulos, in his speech, dramatically called on the Greek Cypriots to reject the Annan Plan.”
Regarding AKEL’s stance, it highlighted the party’s request to the UN for a postponement of referendums in order “to introduce a few essential changes to the Plan regarding security and the certainty of its implementation, to fill in the gaps, and to give time to persuade the Greek Cypriots to vote in favour of the Plan.”
In the occupied areas, the Annan Plan continues to be central for the Turkish Cypriot political leadership, who cite it periodically to make demands from the international community.
Notably, the rejection of the Annan Plan by the Greek Cypriot community is invoked by Turkish Cypriot politicians who believe that the Cyprus issue cannot be resolved on the basis of a bizonal bicommunal federation.
Among them is Ersin Tatar, who in his message for the anniversary of the Annan Plan referendum (source Kipris/GTP) appealed to the United Nations, the European Union, the USA, and other powers to fulfil the promises they made to the Turkish Cypriots and to end the discriminatory treatment against the Greek Cypriots in Cyprus.
Tatar also called on the Greek Cypriot side to abandon its fanatical and hegemonic stance, as he described it, which opposes the solution and to approach positively the proposals of the Turkish Cypriot side.
In a discussion in the so-called “parliament” of the occupying regime about Cyprus and the Annan Plan, there was a confrontation between the President of the Republican Turkish Party, Tufan Erhurman, and the so-called “foreign minister” of the occupying regime, Tahsin Ertugruloglu, prompted by Erhurman’s reference that the only realistic solution model is federation. Erhurman subsequently stated that “the claim that in a federation sovereignty will be in the hands of the Greek Cypriots and that the Turkish Cypriots will have minority status, is a claim that referendums have refuted,” adding that it is not right to interpret the referendums in this way.
In his own statement, Tahsin Ertugruloglu said that they do not trust the United Nations and the European Union.
Criticising the fact that the Greek Cypriot side is accepted as the Republic of Cyprus, Ertugruloglu asked, “As long as my regime is not equated with that, what is the point of negotiation?” The so-called “minister” of the regime argued that the main weakness of the Annan Plan was that it did not establish EU primary law, that the EU did not keep any promise it made, and that a “serious game” was played on the Turkish Cypriot “people.”
