kafenes wrote:‘Leader’s secret meetings to sabotage 2004 referendum’
By Jean Christou
SECRET meetings between the two sides ahead of the 2004 referendums on the Annan plan resulted in an agreement that a ‘yes’ and a ‘no’ should come out of the dual votes, reports from the north said yesterday.
Afrika newspaper said that before the referendum, then ‘Deputy Prime Minister’ Serdar Denktash and ‘Communication and Works Minister’ Omer Kalyoncu took part in the secret dinners at the Strakka home of President Tassos Papadopoulos.
Kalyoncu was the general secretary of Talat’s Republican Turkish Party.
“It was decided that a “yes” and a “no” come out of the ballot box at the referendum,” the report said.
Denktash, the son of the former Turkish Cypriot leader, told a radio station in the north that Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat was asked during the Burgenstock talks whether he wanted a solution or a referendum and he reportedly replied the latter.
Greek Cypriot presidential candidates have been mudslinging in the past week over who was responsible for what when it came to the Annan plan and referendum. Politis yesterday dubbed the story “The X Files”.
The Strakka dinners, and the extent of the participation of AKEL candidate and former government partner Demetris Christofias were central to the argument.
AKEL has been arguing that it merely wanted a postponement of the referendum so that certain gaps in the plan could be worked out and a ‘yes’ could be secured at a later date.
However Talat wanted the referendum to go ahead, and the government was also bound under an agreement with the UN that the referendum would be held.
Afrika said the only solution was a failed vote for the plan.
”Papadopoulos told Serdar Denktas that even if AKEL said ‘yes’ to the referendum, the result would be a ‘no’, and proposed the referendum to be postponed for two years,” the paper said.
Denktash also said he met with Papadopoulos five or six times in Burgenstock, where the president had also suggested a postponement so that negotiations could continue between the two sides, and after they reached an understanding they could prepare a joint plan to submit to the UN.
Denktash said he took the idea to Talat but, fearful that there were bugs in the Swiss hotel, discussed the issue out in the snow. Talat insisted the referendum should take place, Afrika said. This was also Turkey’s position, it said.
AKEL spokesman Andros Kyprianou said yesterday Christofias only attended one of the Strakka meetings, and had insisted on the presence of Kalyoncu as a representative of Talat.
Kyprianou said he knew nothing about other meetings.
“We asked for a postponement of the referenda and we did not act behind the backs of the Cypriot people,” he said.
He also said if Christofias was elected President he would put to referendum a solution agreed by the two sides.
Government spokesman Vassilis Palmas said two meetings had taken place in Papadopoulos’ house, one of which was attended by Christofias.
There has also been a number of meetings in Burgenstock, he said.
Palmas said he didn't know why Papadopoulos’ opponents were causing such a fuss, given that they were the ones that unanimously approved the law that made the referendum possible.
“This is something that is being ignored,” he said, adding that none of them made their objections known at the time.
Asked about Serdar factor, Palmas said: “Obviously someone is trying to identify the President with the same policies of Mr Denktash,” he said.
Palmas suggested it was time to stop taking things out of the drawer that related to the referendum period and to move forward with constructive arguments about the future.
http://www.cyprus-mail.com/news/main.php?id=35676
it only makes me admire them more, these old farts. imagine...
...who do you think they were hiding from?
like the opening of the gates, Denktash ruled as a Cypriot first, TPap in this regard is an accomplice, and as a Turk he served his Patrimony, not the Government, which serves these ideals as well. The Annan plan which started with much hope was botched, and the fact that few had read it the day before the referendum proves that it was unclear.
as for the EOKA and what became their counterpart the TMT they are products of that age, what were guerillas. few can say with integrity that they improved the condition of Humanity with their work, they have for the most part spawned fascists, and the ignobles without grace, we have come to call terrorists.
For Tpap to establish a legacy of work as great, he must found our State on a BiCommunal and BiZonal basis.
This means three governments, (and many parts).
his next step should be to establish a link of familiarity with Talat or any other Turkish Cypriot leader he can, in secret, with a mind to divorce "Greek" from the State, the Republic of Cyprus, and to establish a counterpart to the TRNC, a new governmental system, which will allow for two National Assemblies as well, each recognising, and respecting minority rights, and each representing a majority by culture.
