In-depth Paragraph by Paragraph Analysis of the Implications of the Annan Plan

Foundation Agreement

Main Articles

i. Affirming that Cyprus is our common home and recalling that we were co-founders of the Republic established in 1960

Article i. of the Foundation Agreement is historically inaccurate and misleading as to how the Republic of Cyprus was founded.

The approach of the 1960 constitution forces Cypriots into becoming part a separatist society and cannot be condoned. Reference to so-called “co-founders” rather than the Cypriot people perpetuates the 1960 constitutions divisiveness and fails to respect the right of every Cypriot citizen to their own individuality.

The only viable way of approaching the issue of Cyprus constitution is by identifying what made the 1960 constitution unworkable and what can be done so that its replacement does not follow along the same path.

Cyprus struggle for independence was started by the majority Greek speaking community who wanted freedom from oppressive British colonialism and the right to democracy. The best way of achieving this was union with Greece and this is what Britain originally promised it would allow in return for Greece supporting the Allies during WW2. The government of Turkey which had its own ambitions responded by organising the massacre and ethnic cleansing of the indigenous Greek population of Constantinople in 1955 which had numbered over 200,000 and prepared plans for invading Cyprus. The extermination of the Greeks of Constantinople was part of an ongoing Turkish policy of genocide which followed the Christian Holocaust in Asia-Minor in which the Turks systematically exterminated over 4 million indigenous Christians in the early 20^th century and ethnically cleansed millions more, while the West turned a blind eye.

Because of the United States wish to appease Turkish aggression for the sake of its NATO bases, plans were made to partition Cyprus. The Cypriot people were not allowed to freely determine their own future and the only way to avoid partition was if Cyprus leaders accepted a divisive constitution in which Cypriots were classified as Greek and Turkish Cypriots on the basis of religion. Greek Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox and Maronite and Latin Christians and were all lumped together as one community called the "Greek Cypriots" and the Muslims were lumped together as "Turkish Cypriots." The designations failed to acknowledge the Cypriot peoples individuality or the immigration of people of other ethnicities to Cyprus who were also Cyprus citizens. They are also are incompatible with the principles and ideals of the European Union.

Another divisive aspect of the 1960 constitution was the unworkable minority vetoes and parliamentary quotas which did not reflect the composition of the population but allowed the Muslims to be counted as double their actual number furthered the divisiveness and the minority Muslims were used a pawns by Turkey in order to bring the processes of government to into deadlock a complete standstill by 1963 where the budget and crucial legislation were prevented from being enacted. President Makarios was then forced to recommend 13 democratic amendments in order to bring the constitution in line with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Turkey in order to prevent true democracy for being realised and its destabilising manipulation of Cyprus politics from being ended responded by illegally attacking and invading Cyprus territory and terrorising its people and was condemned by the United Nations Security Council which set up a peace keeping force in 1964. Turkey subsequently attempted to invade Cyprus again in 1967 and attacked the UN peace keeping force and finally in 1974 it staged two bloody invasions bringing about the ethnic cleansing and partition of Cyprus, while the UN stood by and did nothing to enforce its own charter and its own resolutions.

The Treaty of Guarantee failed to protect Cyprus because Turkey despite its practice of genocide against its own Greek, Armenian, Assyrian and Kurdish populations was made a guarantor power while Cyprus was left without any practical means of defending itself. Cyprus was betrayed by all of its guarantors in 1974 including Greece which was ruled by a US sponsored military junta and Britain which acquiesced to American pressure not to intervene when it could have stopped Turkey immediately.

If the purpose of this agreement is to change the constitutional order in Cyprus then the opening sentence must state what is wrong with it and the Annan plan must then address how these failings and shortcomings will be removed.

Article i. should be amended to indicate why a new constitution is required.

Amendment Required

"i. Affirming that Cyprus is our common home and recalling the short comings and divisive nature of the constitution that established the Republic in 1960."

Clarification Required

Why are the reasons for why the original constitutional order needs changing not mentioned.

What does Kofi Annan use the divisive term “co-founders” instead of referring to the people of Cyprus as a whole.

< Previous Page I Index | Next Page >

revised 30/01/04