ATHENS: Cyprus has been given one month to secure peace — a goal which has been missed for 28 years — after Kofi Annan of the UN presented his own proposals for a solution.

The secretary general’s intervention comes just weeks before a crucial summit in Copenhagen which will decide on the island’s entry to the European Union. It is expected to be the UN’s last attempt to secure peace on Cyprus, 28 years after Turkey invaded the north of the island in response to an Athens-inspired coup.

The EU is expected to issue formal invitations to Cyprus and nine other candidate countries during its summit but Turkey has threatened to annex the Turkish-occupied north if Cyprus joins the EU before a settlement and Greece has said it will veto the planned EU expansion if Cyprus is excluded from the list of candidates.

The new initiative, details of which were delivered to the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot leaders as well as to Greece, Turkey and Britain, is believed to offer three basic choices: either they accept a sovereign state based on the model of Belgium in which the posts of president and prime minister revolve; a state based on the Swiss model, with six Greek Cypriot and three Turkish Cypriot ministers; or a state in which power is shared by an executive president and a vice-president who each have a right of veto.

Sources said the UN plan relied heavily on “creative ambiguity” in formulating a constitution that is neither federal nor confederal, in line with the British belief that a solution should not necessarily be outlined.

But although it was described as a “historic moment” by the Greek foreign minister, George Papandreou, the long awaited proposal was received with a mixture of trepidation and awkwardness in Athens, Ankara and Nicosia.

All three capitals realised that whatever the outcome, Mr Annan’s peace deal would entail huge compromises.

Although the Greek Cypriots have applied for EU membership on behalf of the entire island, the Turkish Cypriot leader, Rauf Denktash — who is currently in the US recovering from heart surgery — remains adamantly opposed to accession before Turkey also joins, saying the Greeks would exploit their EU membership to unpick a solution.—Dawn/The Guardian News Service.