Cyprus-Forum.com

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Outrageously aggressive

LORD Hannay is outrageously aggressive in his new caustic remarks on Cyprus.

He says Greek Cypriots cannot hope for a European solution and will be frustrated if they believe they can get the kind of settlement, where human rights and European principles prevail.

He also lays the blame on President Papadopoulos for the outcome of the April referendum, ignoring the fact that Greek Cypriots voted in their overwhelming majority against the Plan, after hearing long discussions on radio, television and in the press about its merits and demerits.

To suggest that Greek Cypriots should make a "major shift" in their position and to talk of "real sacrifices" that the Turkish side has made, is absolute nonsense.

It is saddening to hear a distinguished British diplomat, who served at the UN for so many years, refuse to uphold UN resolutions.

It is regrettable that a British political figure should ignore European principles and moral issues. It’s deplorable that he says nothing about the presence of Turkish occupation troops on the soil of an EU state.

On the contrary, he supports the continuation of the intervention rights of the three guarantor powers, even after Cyprus has become a full member of the European Union.

It is also surprising that he makes an issue of Alvaro de Soto "not being allowed" to appear on television to explain the settlement plan.

But the Peruvian diplomat was giving many interviews to other media at the time, and so was his chief legal and political adviser, and of course all remarks and messages from Secretary-General Kofi Annan were broadcast or printed in full.

It is completely baseless that the No campaign was being mounted on the back of "untrue rhetoric."

People and their political leaders had every opportunity to discuss the plan extensively. It was a wholly democratic process. Lord Hannay is lying if he insists in his book, to be published later this month, that people were not given a chance to debate freely the proposed settlement and that only " lies" about the plan were being projected. He mentions that two former Presidents thought that the plan provided an acceptable deal.

This is what they, and scores of other political figures and lawyers argued, in interviews and at public gatherings.

Surely Lord Hannay must respect the democratic right of a people to say yes or no in a referendum?