By Jean Christou
THE NATIONAL Council had still not decided yesterday whether the Greek Cypriot side would give a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ reply in The Hague tomorrow to holding a referendum on the UN solution plan on March 30.
President Tassos Papadopoulos and Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash meet UN Secretary-general Kofi Annan in The Hague tomorrow to say whether they are willing to sign a two-page document committing the third version of his plan to separate referendums.
Signatures are also required in The Hague from Greece, Turkey and Britain, the island’s guarantor powers.
However news agency reports out of Athens yesterday said that Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou will not attend tomorrow’s meeting. Papandreou had announced on Friday that he would be there, but a Greek Foreign Ministry spokesman said yesterday that Papandreou would not now attend tomorrow’s gathering as the two other guarantor powers are not sending similar representation.
Papandreou will, however, travel to The Hague for a meeting today with Papadopoulos ahead of tomorrow’s deadline.
So far neither side in Cyprus appears willing to commit, because signing a document agreeing to a referendum might indicate acceptance or endorsement of the actual plan, even though they are nowhere near agreeing on a deal on a comprehensive settlement.
Observers say the only way out, other than signing, is the already talked about possibility that they might reach a verbal agreement to hold the referendums, which would take the pressure off endorsing a plan that neither side seems to want.
Annan has warned that if either side says ‘no’ tomorrow, it would be the end of the road for the Cyprus problem for a very long time, if not for ever.
After yesterday’s National Council session government spokesman Kypros Chrysostomides said the meeting had not aimed at taking a decision.“The decision will be taken in The Hague at a National Council meeting before the meeting of the President of the Republic with the UN Secretary-general,” he said. Papadopoulos and the other party leaders who make up the National Council leave for The Hague this morning.
Chrysostomides said that during the meeting yesterday Papadopoulos briefed the members of the Council on his recent talks in Athens with Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis.“In view of the forthcoming trip of the President of the Republic to the Hague, accompanied by the members of the National Council, in-depth views were exchanged and all the developments and relevant factors were evaluated,” Chrysostomides said.
The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.
