The Annan Plan reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Annan Plan

The Annan Plan is a United Nations proposal to bring about the reunification of the divided island nation of Cyprus. It bears the name of United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who largely devised the proposal in conjunction with Didier Pfirter.

Table of contents

1 Negotiations 2 Proposal 3 Source 4 External links

Negotiations

Direct talks began in January 2002 between Republic of Cyprus President Clerides (Greek community) and Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus President Denktash under the auspices of Secretary-General Annan.

In November 2002, Secretary-General Annan released a comprehensive plan for the resolution of the Cyprus issue. It was revised in early December. In the lead up to the December 2002 EU Copenhagen Summit, intensive efforts were made to gain both sides' signatures to the document prior to a decision on the island's European Union membership. Neither side agreed to sign. The EU invited the Republic of Cyprus to join on 16 December 2002.

Following the Copenhagen Summit, the UN continued dialogue with the two sides with the goal of reaching a settlement prior to Cyprus's signature of the EU accession treaty on 16 April 2003. A third version of the Annan plan was put to the parties in February 2003. That same month the Secretary-General again visited the island and asked that both leaders agree to put the plan to referendum in their respective communities. Also in February 2003, Tassos Papadopoulos was elected as the fifth president of the Republic of Cyprus. On 10 March 2003, this most recent phase of talks collapsed in The Hague, Netherlands, when Mr. Denktash told the Secretary-General he would not put the Annan Plan to referendum.

In February 2004, Papadopoulos and Denktash accepted the Secretary-General's invitation to resume negotiations on a settlement on the basis of the Annan plan. After meeting with Annan in New York, talks began on-island on 19 February 2004. The two community leaders, Rauf Denktash and Tassos Papadopoulos, met nearly every day for negotiations facilitated by the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Cyprus, Álvaro de Soto. In addition, numerous technical committees and subcommittees met in parallel in an effort to resolve outstanding issues. Negotiations concluded on 31 March, and the Secretary-General presented to the two sides a proposed final settlement. This plan will be put to parallel and simultaneous referenda in the two communities on 24 April (see: Cyprus reunification referendum, 2004). With a positive vote on both sides, a unified Cyprus will enter the European Union on 1 May 2004.

Proposal

The Annan Plan would create a new country: the United Cyprus Republic. This republic would be a federation of two states – the Greek Cypriot State and the Turkish Cypriot State – joined together by a minimal federal government apparatus. This federal level, which is closely based on the Swiss federal model, would incorporate the following elements:

• A collective presidential council, made up of six voting members, allocated according to population (per present levels, four Greek Cypriots and two Turkish Cypriots), and selected and voted in by parliament. An additional three non-voting members would be assigned 2:1.
• A president and vice president, chosen by the presidential council from among its members, one from each community, to rotate in their functions every 20 months during the council's five-year term of office.
• A bicameral legisature:
  • A senate (upper house), with 48 members, divided 24:24 between the two communities.
  • A chamber of deputies (lower house), with 48 members, divided in proportion to the two communities' populations (with no fewer than 12 for the smaller community).
• A supreme court composed of equal numbers of Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot judges, plus three foreign judges; to be appointed by the presidential council.

The plan includes a federal constitution, a string of constitutional and federal laws, and a proposal for a United Cyprus Republic flag and a national anthem. It also provides for a Reconciliation Commission to bring the two communities closer together and resolve outstanding disputes from the past.

It would also establish a limited right to return between the territories of the two communities, and allow Turkey to maintain a permanent military presence on the island.

Source

• "Negotiations" section adapted from public domain U.S. State Department background note on Cyprus, April 2004.

External links

• The Annan Plan: full text and background from the United Nations
• Cyprus Decides: a bipartisan information resource about the Plan

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