THE CONSTITUTION of the United Republic of Cyprus, as well as the constitutions of the two constituent states, must be based on the principles of the rule of law, democracy and representative republican government.
The constitution of the United Republic of Cyprus is also based on bi-zonality, the political equality of Greek and Turkish Cypriots and the equal status of the two constituent states.
To understand the Annan Plan it is necessary to understand that securing bi-zonality, political equality of the two communities and the status of political equality of the two constituent states on one hand, and human rights and an independent sovereign state with a single international personality on the other, are interlinked preconditions in framing the plan.
If the main articles of the constitution specify that the United Republic of Cyprus is a bi-zonal state, why are the Turks demanding that bi-zonality be secured?
The demand by the Turkish Cypriot side for a bi-zonal, bi-communal arrangement, aims at safeguarding the political, economic and cultural entity and securing the rights of the Turkish Cypriot community.
In other words, securing bi-zonality is not just about guaranteeing the territorial boundaries of each constituent state, but also the ethnic character of its population. In order to ensure equality between the two communities, it is necessary, but not enough, to secure equality between the two constituent states.
The Turkish Cypriot side has demanded safety nets, which would ensure that the Turkish Cypriot sate would be made up and represented at a federal level mainly by Turkish Cypriots.
Clearly, the demand for a more efficient safeguard of bi-zonality is a demand for securing political equality between the two communities.
This affects the political rights of citizens with internal citizenship of one constituent states who chose to settle in the other.
In addition, transitional limitations are imposed on gaining permanent residence in any of the two constituent states. The regulations concerning the exercise of settlement rights will be in place for at least 20 years or until Turkey’s accession with the EU.
The need for a bi-zonal solution, as agreed by the two parties many years ago, secures the equality of the constituent states as political equality between Greek and Turkish Cypriots.
Knowing this issue is a priority for the Turkish Cypriots, it would be difficult to imagine think that a bi-zonal solution could have been achieved without such transitional limitations, which set the basis for the viability of the bi-zonal solution. In this context, the real choice in the search for a solution of the Cyprus problem rests on basic issues like bi-zonality. The transitional limitations on free settlement, a secondary issue in this sense, regulate the gradual settlement of Greek Cypriots in the Turkish Cypriot state until they have reached 21 per cent of the population after the 15th year.
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