March 1, 2003	Saturday	Zul Hijjah 27, 1423

NICOSIA, Feb 28: UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said on Friday the leaders of divided Cyprus had agreed to meet him at The Hague on March 10 to tell him whether they would submit a draft UN-backed plan to a referendum.

But he warned the Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders that if either side said no, his mediation would end — signalling the Greek Cypriot side would go it alone towards EU membership.

“They will arrive in The Hague on March 10 to tell me whether or not they will sign a commitment to submit the foundation agreement to approval at separate referenda on March 30 in order to achieve a comprehensive settlement of the Cyprus problem,” Annan told reporters after talks with both parties.

Provided both communities back it in separate referendums on March 30, the peace deal will allow a united Cyprus, instead of just the larger Greek Cypriot part, to sign an accession treaty on April 16 to join the European Union next year.

But speaking to reporters as he boarded a plane for New York, Annan said: “If one party or the other says no (on March 10) there is no doubt that this is the end of road.” Mr Annan, who since last Sunday has taken time out from the Iraq crisis to shuttle between the main players, had hoped to wrap up a deal on Friday.

“We put lots of efforts in it (the plan) and I’m not sure this opportunity will come again soon. If it ever comes again,” Annan said.

But Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash and newly elected Greek Cypriot leader Tassos Papadopoulos dug their heels in over details of the complex power-sharing plan which would establish a new state and set off population and territory exchanges.

Tens of thousands of Turkish Cypriots demonstrated this week calling for Denktash to either sign the deal or step down from leading Cyprus’s northern enclave, recognised only by Turkey.

There is also concern among Greek Cypriots that they may give away too much under the deal, but they would also have to weigh up the possible repercussions if they stall further.

“If the Turks said yes and the Greeks said no at The Hague, it will go down very dimly with the EU,” an authoritative source said.

Papadopoulos, who was sworn in as Cyprus’s new president on Friday, won elections earlier this month largely on the back of concerns the blueprint was far from satisfactory.

“We want a solution that is functional because if it is not functional it won’t be viable and if it is not viable it can’t be permanent,” Papadopoulos said.

Agreement on unification would boost Turkey’s hopes of joining the European Union further down the road as well as remove a major irritant in relations with NATO ally Greece.

“We want to resolve this (Cyprus) issue. That is why we are sweating, that is why we can’t sleep at night. This is our worry,” Turkey’s leader Tayyip Erdogan said while campaigning in the southeastern Turkish town of Siirt on Friday.

DENKTASH OPPOSES REFERENDUM: Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash said on Friday putting a UN plan to reunify Cyprus directly to the people in a referendum would not be “correct and democratic”, casting strong doubts over UN Secretary General Kofi Annan’s latest bid to resolve the conflict.

“Is it possible for the people to fully understand this complicated plan of so many pages, which makes references to laws and treaties? There are parties, the parliament, the NGOs ... who could show a direction to the people,” Denktash said.

“Now, pushing all these aside, you would leave the poor people to face a decision to say yes or no. This is not a correct approach, it is not democratic either,” he added. He was speaking after Mr Annan said here he expected Denktash and his Greek Cypriot counterpart, Tassos Papadopoulos, to tell him in the Hague on March 10 whether they agree to put his plan for reunifying the divided island to a vote by their communities.

Annan changed tactics after failing to persuade the two leaders by his deadline of Friday to sign up to the plan first before staging the referendums to endorse it on March 30.—Reuters / AFP