PRESIDENT Papadopoulos will have considered the disappointing outcome of the talks in Burgenstock a big success as he achieved exactly what he had set out to. He refused to sign an agreement, which would have been perceived as an endorsement of the fifth version of the Annan plan, ahead of the referendum and he ensured that Greece, under a new, inexperienced and understandably cautious prime minister went along with him. And he achieved this with minimal opposition from those members of the National Council who, unlike him, were in a favour of settlement based on the Annan plan.
Back in Cyprus, Papadopoulos’ DIKO lieutenants engaged in an unprecedented campaign of misinformation against the plan, taking advantage of the ‘wait-and-see’ approach of the parties and politicians which support a solution. They were assisted by the president’s advisors, whose manipulation of public opinion, through the leaking of information – always with an anti-solution spin – to the media, greatly contributed to the creation of today’s negative climate. In this way, even if Papadopoulos was forced to endorse the Annan plan, the people would reject it in the referendum.
The negative climate and anti-solution hysteria fuelled by the president’s men is now turning nasty. On Wednesday, students were demonstrating against the plan, one of them informing TV crews that Turkish Cypriots were inferior. Yesterday at an April 1 function in Limassol, youths shouted abuse at pro-solution deputy Christos Pourgourides, calling him a traitor. He needed police protection to leave as the youths tried to mob him.
This is what happens when politicians, in order to achieve their objectives, avoid rational debate and encourage mass hysteria and mob mentality.
We hope that the leaders of the two main parties, AKEL and DISY, will put an end to these disgraceful goings-on, on their return to Cyprus, and try to initiate an open and honest debate about the fifth version of the Annan plan. They do not have to take a stance in favour of the plan. But they do have a moral obligation to ensure that the public is informed correctly about the provisions of the plan, its advantages and disadvantages as well as the possible consequences for Cyprus of a rejection or acceptance of it in the referendum. Unfortunately, it has been proved, beyond reasonable doubt, that we cannot rely on our government to do this, as it has shown it has no scruples about misinforming the public in order to avoid a settlement.
But we have not reached the end of the road yet. Papadopoulos may have avoided endorsing the plan in Switzerland, but the Greek Cypriots, like the Turkish Cypriots, will still have to vote in a referendum on April 24. And the people have a right to objective and honest information before they make such a critically important decision. We hope that the two big parties will take the lead and show respect for the right of people to be correctly informed about the plan before voting. It is the least they can do to counter the government’s cynical misinformation campaign.
