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Cypriot, Greek Leaders Against U.N. Plan
Via Lucianne, see, they can agree on something!Both the Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders came out Wednesday against a United Nations (news - web sites) plan to reunify the war-divided island, and urged voters to reject it in a referendum set for April 24. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan (news - web sites) submitted the plan as a last-ditch attempt to reunite the island after 30 years of separation before Cyprus joins the EU on May 1. The two sides and the Greek and Turkish governments failed on March 29 to reach an agreement of their own after lengthy talks. Veteran Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktashâs opposition has long been known, but his Greek Cypriot counterpart, President Tassos Papadopoulos, had withheld judgment until now. In a televised speech, Papadopoulos said that rather than leading to the reunification of Cyprus, the plan "makes its (current) partition permanent." "After judging all the facts and with a full realization of the historic moment we live through and my heavy responsibility, I am sincerely sorry that I cannot sign acceptance of the Annan plan," Papadopoulos said. Denktash held a news conference in Ankara where he also urged voters to reject the plan. Denktash repeated his belief that the plan will make Cyprus a Greek Cypriot island and wipe out Turkish Cypriots in the northern half. This kind of reads like really REALLY bad pun - deja-jew< SNIP/SMALL> "The plan writes off the Turkish invasion and the consequences of the occupation" and legitimizes "the illegal presence of the tens of thousands of Turkish mainland settlers, Papadopoulos said. Polls have shown a majority of Greek Cypriots are against the plan. Their main objections is that it limits the right of all Greek Cypriot refugees â numbering about 200,000 â to return to the north and reclaim their properties in compliance with Security Council resolutions, while allowing more than 60,000 Turkish mainland settlers in the north to remain. He said the plan violates basic human rights and principles of the European Union (news - web sites) ensuring the right of refugees to return and to repossess their properties. How about repossessing European properties taken in the 40s, hmmm???? -SNIP- Posted by: Anonymous2U 2004-04-08 |
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