(28 Apr 2004) Greek Cypriots overwhelmingly rejected on Saturday a United Nations (UN) plan to end the 30-year division of Cyprus with three-quarters of the population voting no, ushering the Mediterranean island into the European Union (EU) and still divided on May 1 even though Turkish Cypriots accepted it.
The voter turnout was alleged to have between an average of eighty five per cent (85)
Complete, official results in the Greek Cypriot south showed 76 percent voting against the plan and 24 percent approving it. In the north, 65 percent of Turkish Cypriots voted yes and 35 percent voted against the plan.
Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots were voting in separate referendums on whether to accept a plan by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan that would reunify Cyprus after 30 years of division. The international community has been pushing hard for acceptance of the plan ahead of Cyprus’ May 1 entry to the European Union.
The defeat means only Greek Cypriots would enjoy the full benefits of EU membership. The European Commission, issuing a statement in Brussels, said a "unique opportunity to bring about a solution to the long-lasting Cyprus issue has been missed," and it praised Turkish Cypriots, pledging to consider further economic development help for their impoverished north.
Turkish Cypriot voters in the north had been expected to approve it, despite the vehement opposition of their leader, Rauf Denktash. To them, the plan is seen as a way to ease poverty that has come with their international isolation since the Turkish invasion in 1974 that divided the island. Only Turkey recognises the breakaway Turkish Cypriot state.
Earlier on Saturday, Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos urged citizens to respect the referendum results and not to "blacken the day with incidents."
The Turkish Cypriot leader, also voting against the plan, complained that Cypriots were being "kicked around" and pushed into a premature vote. A frequent complaint on both sides of the island was that there was too little time for people to understand the 220-page plan and its 9,000 pages of annexes.
Greek Cypriot rejection of the plan, an unprecedented appeal from U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to the people to impose an entirely new political structure after leaders could not agree could make for a frosty May 1 entry to the EU for Cyprus.
The main Greek Cypriot objections are that the plan limits the right of Greek Cypriot refugees to return to homes they fled when the island was divided, while allowing tens of thousands of Turkish settlers introduced to the occupied north since 1974 to remain.
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