Cyprus-Forum.com

[Viewpoint]

Didnt someone from the EU call the GC adminsitration "back stabbers" after the result of the referendum?

Hi vp,
I don't recall this specific comment, wlthough I do remember a lot of people were dissappointed. I do not doubt that Papadopoulos' handling of the situation was far from good, but that was not my point. To suggest that the RoC cheated it's way into the EU is just plain unfair. The RoC would have gotten into the EU anyway whatever happened (and did). Cyprus' entry was secured in the mid-nineties way before Annan in the form we knew it was conceived. It was always hoped that the entry would be a catalyst for unification and I too am disappointed that did not happen but as we saw the whole Annan initiative was rushed to get to referendum in time for accession, this did not happen the other way around, otherwise why not simply at some stage delay Cyprus' accession by 1 year so things would not be rushed? The answer is also simply, unification was never a pre-requisite for entry and so accession was always going to happen in April 2004, the Annan initiative was planned around this timeframe, NOT the other way round. To claim otherwise is simply to try and make the GC community feel guilty for simply voting no at a referendum. Believe me I also was dissapointed by the handling of Annan Plan (by all parties including the RoC). It has resulted in dividing our two communities even further and I am beginning to believe Kikapu's conspiracy theory that this whole fiasco was planned from the start to prevent Turkey from entering the EU.

The whole thing was rushed due to your entry into the EU which the EU thought would bring with it a united island. If this type of pressure was not brought to bear I am pretty certain we would still be negotiating back and forth with no result. Cypriots do not conclude things they just prolong them and never solve shit.
The comfort of your entry into EU was another important factor which produced a resounding NO as the prospect of getting a better deal with EU was more attractive prospect than accepting the only plan that was ever put before us and making it work. Well you have what you want you are in the EU and pushing Turkey all they way lets see what will happen with the ports, Erdogan only declared yesterday in Washington that they will not open their ports unless the isolation of the north is lifted by the EU. He also made another interesting point that EU asked him to say YES to the Annan plan and they would lift isolation on the north we have done our part now its time for the EU to deliver. Interesting to see if this will be the case, will the EU really keep a promise for a change and deliver?

[andri_cy]

Mickleh As far as what the EU will or will not do it certainly rewarded the dishonest GC administration with EU membership-dont you remember waht was said at the time by EU officials.
Again another example of one rule for you and another for us.
Any new agreement will use the AP as a starting point. Therefore if the AP plan is dead then so is a united Cyprus.

Issy, I am going to say that I will ask a question and it wont be to stir things up but because when the whole EU thing and AP thing happened I was away and I am coming to the conclusion that I have missed a lot of information. You are calling the GC administration dishonest and I am honestly wanting to find out why. Did they promise something to the EU? I just honestly want to understand this and I am not trying to start an argument. Thanks!

[Issy1956]

Andri,
I am surprised that you missed this period of Cypriot. There is plenty of information on this an other forums on this.
The contention that the GC administraion were dishonest is not mine bu that of the E.U.'s Enlargement Commissioner at the time of Cyprus entry, Gunter Verheugen, who said that the political damage of the `no' vote in the referendum was huge.
He said the GC leadership `cheated' their way into the E.U. by initially indicating they favoured unification and then opposing it at the last hour.
The basis of my comment stems from the EU commissioners reaction to the way the Tpap government ran the OXI campaign while almost suppressing the YES people and not allowing EU or UN people to address the GC on the merits of the plan.
I am surprised you missed all this.

[andri_cy]

At the time all this happened I wasn't keeping in touch with my family or anyone because they had disowned me for being married to an American LOL. So since I had nothing to go back to I kind of rebelled and went through a "i don't care" period. It saddens me now cause I can see I missed out on important pieces of history in the making. I am still trying to catch up in some ways.

[Issy1956]

Andri,
Sorry to hear this. Hopefully in time they will realise that your happiness and the love that you and your husband have for each other is more important than his nationality. I know this is off topic but this truly suprises me as this attitude is very much less evident than it was in the past. For example ny brother is married to an Irish lady (no issues so far) and one of my cousins is married to a an Aussie Greek and we even went to their mixed Greco-Turkish wedding party about 2 years ago. Therefore your family disowning you is a bit strong in this day and age. As I say hopefully they will come to their senses in time.

[Alexis]

The contention that the GC administraion were dishonest is not mine bu that of the E.U.'s Enlargement Commissioner at the time of Cyprus entry, Gunter Verheugen, who said that the political damage of the `no' vote in the referendum was huge.
He said the GC leadership `cheated' their way into the E.U. by initially indicating they favoured unification and then opposing it at the last hour.
The basis of my comment stems from the EU commissioners reaction to the way the Tpap government ran the OXI campaign while almost suppressing the YES people and not allowing EU or UN people to address the GC on the merits of the plan.
I am surprised you missed all this.

Hi Issy,

My logic is clear. I am not talking about the dishonesty/honesty of the Tpap government with regards trhe Annan PLan and what they may/may not have said to the EU with regards this. My point is simply that the EU never made the Annan Plan or for that matter unification a pre-requisite for membership. Viewpoint has made the point that perhaps they should have to put pressure on the GC admin and tie entry in with the Annan Plan - and perhaps they should although there are many arguments against. They never did this, so to conclude that the GCs cheated their way into the EU is simply unfair, the two issues are removed. The most the EU insisted upon with regards the Annan Plan was that referendums be held if the TC also agreed to this and even this was not a requirement for membership as well as being a last minute request. In short I believe to make the statement that the GC admin cheated their way into the EU is both untrue and an attempt to demonise the GC community simply for voting No to a Plan which they are actually asked to vote for.

[Issy1956]

Alex,
Its the difference between the spirit of the law and the letter of the law if you see what I am trying to say. I do not dispute the details of what you say its just that the actions of the GC did not match the expectations of the international community.
I do not wish to demonise the GC community particularly after the pressure that their political and religious leaders placed on them to vote no. With hell as a reward and being branded traitors its a wonder that any of them voted yes.

[Alexis]

Alex,
Its the difference between the spirit of the law and the letter of the law if you see what I am trying to say. I do not dispute the details of what you say its just that the actions of the GC did not match the expectations of the international community.
I do not wish to demonise the GC community particularly after the pressure that their political and religious leaders placed on them to vote no. With hell as a reward and being branded traitors its a wonder that any of them voted yes.

Hi Issy,

I do see what you are saying and it is true that the expectation was, or perhaps more realistically 'the hope' was that Cyprus would accede unified. The international community was certainly disappointed by the GC admin's decision not to endorse the plan, but that was their right although perhaps not the right thing to do. Also bear in mind that although Talat supported the plan, Denktash did not along with a number of other partitionists within the TC community, and had the TCs voted no the spotlight would be upon those people. Because the GC voted no the spotlight was then turned onto their community and people then come up with ludicrous remarks that we cheated our way into the EU when all we did was vote out a plan, hardly the same thing otherwise why let us vote in the first place? Similarly people then start exagerrating the claims of state censorship and highlighting extreme quotes from priests that do not reflect the church's official stance. Just because one misguided priest said what he said does not mean that the church supports that view. Also bear in mind that 25% of the GC voters actually voted yes and although this is considered insignificant in political terms that is a sizeable enough percentage of the population. It pains me that the fallout from the Annan Plan has driven our two communities further apart because so many people are willing to shed the worst possible light on the events that led up to it for political gain to cement partition.

[Issy1956]

Hi Alex,
Its my contention that a historic opportunity was missed with the No vote. Imperfect as it may have been I along with many others saw that as our best chance for a united Cyprus in 40 years and it was wasted-but then again history of the Cyprus conflict is littered with wasted chances resulting from the intransigence of both sides when they think they have the upper hand. Gods knows the TC were gui;ty of that for many years claiming the problem was solved in 74.
However as Dentash was quoted after the referendum as saying " I thank God that the Greek Cypriots voted No" the Annan Plan cant have been all bad if he opposed it. I think that says it all.

[Kikapu]

[ Denktash did not along with a number of other partitionists within the TC community, and had the TCs voted no the spotlight would be upon those people. Because the GC voted no the spotlight was then turned onto their community .

Alexis,

I was not in Cyprus when all this happened. Just like Andri_cy, I was in the States, and paid very little attention to all this. But, if I can put on my "thinking cap" for a minute, TC's must have known through the media and through word of mouth, that the GC's were going to say NO to the Annan Plan no matter how good it was for the GC's, because the thinking was, once GC's were in the EU, which was a done deal, they could get more concessions by doing some arm twisting on Turkey, for their EU ambitions. Knowing all this, and it really did not require too much smarts to figure it out, the only option the TC's had was to say YES, even if they did not want to, and rather have a partition instead. It was a smart move by the TC's to put the "negative" focus on the GC's, by being rejectionist, and I'm afraid, in the eyes of the world, whom ever was looking that is, the ROC comes out "smelling" pretty bad. Of course, this was all good news to the other EU members, to use Cyprus against Turkey. You know my thoughts on that already.