Cyprus-Forum.com

[halil]

While the so-called Annan Plan – the last U.N.-sponsored peace plan rejected by Greek Cypriots and accepted by Turkish Cypriots in simultaneous referenda on April 24 and which was named after the then U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan – was still being drafted and senior U.N., U.S. as well as British diplomats were busy trying to feel the pulse of the two sides on the island, as well as Greece and Turkey, and trying to make sure that the peace plan would not be rejected by either of the sides, it had become clear that the deepest rift between the two sides on the island was regarding how the new state to be established should be defined.

According to the Greek Cypriot side, there was already a Cyprus Republic on the island and under international law the new state to be established must be its successor. That is, Greek Cypriots were stressing that the new state should just be a rehashed new version of the republic that the two peoples, Britain, Turkey and Greece established on the island with the 1959-1960 treaties.

The Turkish Cypriot side, on the other hand, was stressing that although the Turkish Republic of northern Cyprus – as well as the preceding Turkish Cypriot autonomous administration and the “federated state” – was “unrecognized” since it was declared, the Turkish Cypriot Parliament adopted many resolutions, government has taken many decisions, courts have passed many verdicts, there have been marriages and divorces. Thus, if the new state was not considered a successor of the Turkish Cypriot state and before the creation of the new state even for one second the Turkish Cypriot state was recognized, there would be a serious legal vacuum.

Klerides steps in:

Though Turkish Cypriots and U.N. officials might not even think about such a development in their wildest dreams, the solution to that key issue came all of a sudden from former Greek Cypriot leader Glafcos Klerides who on May 13, 2002 presented a “non-paper” titled, “This non paper does not represent a proposal of the G/C (Greek Cypriot) side but to overcome the debate on visions and begin at last negotiations on core issues.”

It was in that non-paper that Klerides suggested for the first time the abrogation of the Cyprus Republic as well as the 1960 Constitution – that he described as “falling short of reflecting the new arrangements on the island” – and that the new state would be a “virgin birth” or “parthenogenesis,” that is it will not be a successor of either of the existing two states on the island.

Now, Greek Cypriot opponents of a “virgin birth” or creation of a new common state on the island through “parthenogenesis” are complaining that the Turkish Cypriot side was making unacceptable demands and that the new state must definitely be a continuation of the Republic of Cyprus. They charge that accepting “virgin birth” would mean providing legality to the 1974 Turkish intervention and the results it produced on the island.

What is worse is the fact that those Greek Cypriots objecting to “virgin birth” include those people who had supported the Annan Plan process or were somehow involved in the preparation of the Annan Plan and who indeed are very much aware of the May 13, 2002 proposal of Klerides which besides “virgin birth” included elaborated ideas regarding description of “political equality,” powers and functions of the component states, security arrangements and measures to boost the economic level of the Turkish Cypriot people.

What Klerides offered, and which was accepted by both Turkish Cypriots who were involved in the Annan Plan negotiations, as well as the U.N., U.S. and British “contributors” was a revolutionary way out, providing a new description to the “succession” problem, and indeed stressing that the new common state would acquire its sovereignty from its own existence, while the two founding entities would be considered successor of the two-state pre-settlement reality. Thus, there will no longer be a succession problem.

The Greek Cypriot side is now having some allergy in accepting the Annan Plan as a reference document for fresh talks. However, they have to bear in mind that the Annan Plan is nothing less than an accumulation of decades of negotiations and whatever name one may attribute to it has to constitute the backbone of any new talks.

(Yusuf Kanlı can be contacted at [email protected] or [email protected])

[Kifeas]

Until I see the actual text of the alleged Kleride's "non-paper," I do not believe he had presented such an idea, as it is described by Yusuf Kanli! The whole issue sounds absurd. In a nutshell, it says that the existing RoC will be inherited by the GC federative State, and the "TRNC" will be "inherited" by the TC federative State, and then, two of them will co-found the Federal (central) government. Can someone explain then what happens with the RoC UN and EU membership, plus all international agreements that the RoC has signed and the foreign reserves deposited by the RoC in the World Bank and the EU central Bank? Are they going to be inherited by the GC State? How can a federative (component) state, which in the solution scenario will have no separate sovereignty and no international personality, will inherit elements that only an international legal entity, a sovereign nation-State, can possibly possess? Will we have only the GC state as an EU member state, while the other federative state and the Federal government will be out of the EU? Sounds absurd! Will we have a new EU accession negotiation process, from the part of the Federal government, as well as a new application for UN membership, etc? Very absurd idea, as well as the very idea of “virgin birth!”

[Nikitas]

In the end they are pushing us to the point where we say "OK let us have partition and fuck off". Every turn of the road there is a new and ugly proposal.

[wallace]

I agree with your statement.....but do not forget to close the line of ceasefire and create borders

[repulsewarrior]

...it is why we have the Treaty of Zurich. All the interlocutors were in agreement, except Makarios, who opted not to divide the island in two, and against their wishes, chose the creation of the State, independant and united.

ironically this "second choice" showed itself to be of greater value to the people of the island, and today is the aim of all Cypriots who believe in the principal that they can represent themselves, free from subjugation, as a tolerant and inclusive society, above their "Greekness" or "Turkishness".