The Annan Plan: State succession or continuity

Abstract

The Cyprus conflict has been on the international community’s agenda for more than half a century. The peace negotiations between the Turkish and the Greek Cypriots under the auspices of the UN since the 1960s have produced the fundamental solution parameters which were endorsed by the international community. Creation of a federal state; bi-zonal in terms of territory and bi-communal in terms of constitutional aspects; based on political equality of the two communities; having one international personality where sovereignty is shared between the two communities, is the formula for Cyprus which is endorsed by the international community. The most recent UN comprehensive solution plan, known as the Annan Plan, which includes the internationally endorsed parameters of the Cyprus solution, was put to the separate and simultaneous referenda of the Greek and Turkish Cypriots on 24 April 2004. The solution that called for the reunification of the island under the name United Cyprus Republic in a bi-zonal federal structure comprised of two constituent states, the Greek Cypriot State and the Turkish Cypriot State, was supported by 65 per cent of the Turkish Cypriots, yet voted down by 76 per cent of Greek Cypriots. The aim of this article is to account for the fundamental motive behind the recent Greek Cypriot response to the Annan Plan and based on the analysis to propose concrete steps for what needs to be done to keep the two conflicting sides within the range of the parameters which are endorsed by the international community. Next, we present the traditional positions of the two conflicting sides together with their basic motivations for following such positions regarding a solution in Cyprus. In addition, we lay down the basic parameters of the Annan Plan and recount the positions of the two sides with regard to the plan. Then we focus on the legal aspects of the most crucial conflict between the two sides regarding the creation of the United Cyprus Republic as it was envisaged in the Annan Plan. Finally we summarize the political and legal climate in Cyprus and propose concrete steps as to how the solution endorsed by the international community can be kept alive for the future peace initiatives that could lead to the resolution of the Cyprus conflict in the not so distant future.