CYPRUS: THOUSANDS TAKE TO THE STREETS TO RALLY FOR AND AGAINST PEACE PLAN AS CYPRIOT PREPARE TO VOTE ON ISLAND'S FUTURE

Record ID: 215525

  • Title: CYPRUS: THOUSANDS TAKE TO THE STREETS TO RALLY FOR AND AGAINST PEACE PLAN AS CYPRIOT PREPARE TO VOTE ON ISLAND'S FUTURE
  • Date: 22nd April 2004
  • Summary: (W7) NICOSIA, CYPRUS (RECENT)(REUTERS) 1. SLV/SV "NO" DEMONSTRATION; PEOPLE CHANTING, WAVING FLAGS; FLARE SET OFF (8 SHOTS) 0.45 2. SLV RAUF DENKTASH, PRESIDENT OF TURKISH CYPRIOTS, ADDRESSING CROWD 0.58 3. CU MORE "NO" DEMONSTRATION (2 SHOTS) 1.10 4. MCU (English) ENDER VANGOL, "NO" PROPONENT SAYING "Why no? Because always is no, n
  • Embargoed: 7th May 2004 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: NICOSIA, CYPRUS
  • Country: Cyprus
  • Reuters ID: LVAAGZ361VTDYO62F4ZJXSJ1ECVM
  • Story Text: Thousands take to the streets to rally for and
    against peace plan as Cypriots prepare to vote on island's
    future.



    Thousands of Cypriots took to the streets on
    Thursday (April 22, 2004) to rally their side for a vote Saturday
    (April 24) on a U.N. plan to reunite Cyprus that nearly
    everyone believes is already doomed to failure.

    The probable death knell was delivered on Thursday when
    the Greek Cypriots' biggest political party said it would
    not back the plan to end the Mediterranean island's 30-year
    division.

    Even if Greek Cypriots vote "No" and Turkish Cypriots
    "Yes", the deal is dead and only the Greek part would join
    the European Union on May 1, leaving Turkish Cypriots still
    in international isolation.

    Political ripples from separate referendums of 400,000
    Greek Cypriot voters and 200,000 Turkish Cypriots spread in
    many directions.

    They include Turkey's own hopes of joining the EU, U.S.

    influence in a strategic area close to the Middle East and
    the United Nations' credibility in solving world disputes.

    They would also throw a cloud over May 1 celebrations of
    the EU's biggest enlargement when nine other nations join
    with Cyprus.

    Cyprus was racked by intercommunal violence in the
    1960s and was split when Turkey invaded the north in 1974
    after a Greek Cypriot coup which aimed at union with
    Greece.

    Since then, the unilaterally declared Turkish Republic
    of Northern Cyprus -- one third the size and population of
    the far wealthier Greek Cypriot part -- has lived with a
    blockade that ranges from a ban on its citrus fruit exports
    to the exclusion of its athletes from international
    competition.

    The last opinion polls, before they were banned earlier
    this week so as not to influence the referendum results,
    showed up to 70 percent of Greek Cypriots would vote "No"
    while almost the same percentage of Turkish Cypriots would
    vote "Yes".

    But the last chance for a turnaround appeared lost
    hours later when the Greek Cypriot AKEL communist party, a
    past supporter of reunification, said it opposed the plan because the
    U
    nited Nations had not given guarantees it
    wanted on security.

    Turkey keeps 30,000 troops on the island and even
    though under the plan the Turkish military would be scaled
    down sharply in time, many Greek Cypriots want more
    assurances. They also want back more territory lost in the
    invasion.

    On Wednesday, Russia had vetoed a U.N. Security Council
    resolution backed by Britain and the United States that
    aimed to encourage Greek and Turkish Cypriots to back the
    U.N. plan with the desired security guarantees.

    Russia said the measure was being rushed through and
    should be taken up only after the plan had been adopted by
    both sides.

    The vote was 14 to 1, but Russia's "No" was enough to
    kill it because of its veto power as one of the body's five
    permanent members along with the United States, France,
    Britain and China.

    It was just the latest sign of how bitter the fight
    over the referendums has been both at home and abroad.

    The EU's enlargement chief Guenter Verheugen has
    accused the Greek Cypriot government of "cheating" him over
    his efforts to reunite the island, offering its support for
    the U.N. plan only to denounce it at the last.

    Verheugen's rebuke puts Greek Cypriots on the worst
    possible footing with Brussels days before joining the EU.

    On both sides of the island there have been clashes
    between "Yes" and "No" supporters as well as charges of
    media manipulation by backers of Greek Cypriot President
    Tassos Papadopoulos to ensure a "No" vote.



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