The Cyprus Question Still Unsolved: Security Concerns and the Failure of the Annan Plan
The Cyprus Question Still Unsolved: Security Concerns and the Failure of the Annan Plan

Summary/Abstract: This analysis tries to evaluate the security provisions of the fifth and final version of the Annan Plan for a solution of the Cyprus question. Furthermore, it assesses the extent to which the provisions addressing the security concerns of the two communities in Cyprus and their “motherlands” contributed to the Greek Cypriot “no” and the Turkish Cypriot “yes” in the referenda in April 2004. The article argues that the regulations were indeed highly unsatisfactory from a Greek Cypriot point of view and played an important role within the arguments of the “no” camp, though other factors were of great significance as well. The text tries to prove that all essential security concerns of Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots were sufficiently addressed in order to secure their approval. The same cannot be said about the security concerns of the Greek Cypriot side. Even though some of the Greek Cypriot security demands were exaggerated from an outside perspective or simply not feasible and therefore not credible, this is not the case with all of them. The neglect of vital security demands of the Greek Cypriots, particularly the absence of sufficient safeguards for the implementation of the Annan Plan, explains and justifies a Greek Cypriot “no” to a much higher degree than the outside mediators are willing to concede. As a result of the “no” vote, on the first of May 2004, only the Greek Cypriot south joined the European Union thereby importing the Cyprus problem into the EU and jeopardising the EU ambitions of Turkey.

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