UN plan still basis for deal
Athens and Nicosia yesterday pledged their determination to persist with efforts to reunite Cyprus, while acknowledging that the undertaking might take some time. Following a meeting in Athens with his Cypriot counterpart, Giorgos Iacovou, Foreign Minister Petros Molyviatis said Greece would «always stand by the side of Cyprus.» «Our target always remains to reunite Cyprus on the basis of the Annan plan,» Molyviatis said. «I believe some time will be required before the conditions arise that will allow the effort to restart.» In a referendum on April 24, one week before the island’s European Union entry, Greek Cypriots overwhelmingly rejected the peace plan drafted by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan. At the same time, Turkish-Cypriots approved the deal. Following talks with Annan in New York late on Wednesday, Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos said the UN plan should be the basis of any new talks, adding that any attempt to resubmit the document to referendum as it was «would constitute a great insult to our people.»
