|
10 December 2004
Source: Cyprus Weekly
Author:
Hannay revels in Machiavellian glory
"It would be a good thing if the "exalted Lord," as a true representative of the now outdated "perfidious Albion,'' realised that we now live in the 21st century with its international War Crime and Human Rights Courts, which defend the rights of ordinary people against the intentions of neo-colonialist super powers."
THE deep British involvement in Cyprus and intense desire to see the
Whitehall-inspired Annan Plan accepted was revealed in all it's
Machiavellian glory this week by Lord David Hannay, the long-time
British special envoy on Cyprus.
Speaking in London this week the good Lord, who is generally
believed to be the "ghost writer" who penned the controversial plan,
naturally praised the Turkish Cypriots for their rush to accept what is,
after all his brilliant brain child, and, of course, he blamed the
Greek Cypriots for rejecting it.
Hannay mocked the vast majority of Cypriots on both sides who react
to the intense efforts of Britain and the United States to impose a
plan made bespoke to fit their own and Turkey's measurements, and for
seeing "conspiracies'' as he put it, behind every such attempt. He said
he was tempted at a time to pull out a piece of paper from his pocket
"and announce that here I held the secret British blueprint for the
future of Cyprus.'' He does not seem to realise that the vast majority
of Greek Cypriots feel that this is exactly what he did with the
presentation of the Annan, or should one say, Hannay, Plan!
The good Lord - or should he be referred to as the "exalted'' one
for his untiring efforts? - then went as far as to declare, no doubt
with his tongue in his cheek, that "the future of Cyprus lies in the
hands of Cypriots."
He is, of course, closing his eyes and ears to the overwhelming
pressure exerted on the people to accept the Annan Plan, and the US
warning that they will be hit by a ton of bricks if they dare to veto
Turkey's progress towards joining the EU if it does not recognise
Cyprus.
In blaming the Greek Cypriot side, the exalted Lord sinks very low
by charging that "the Greek Cypriot administration,'' (not the
internationally-recognised Cyprus government, mind you), seems locked in
a time-warp of negativism.''
The Greek Cypriots rejected the Annan Plan overwhelmingly in the
April referendum for the primary reason that it violates fundamental
human rights, basic international law provisions and legitimises the
Turkish war crimes of ethnic cleansing and the influx of settlers from
the mainland to the occupied north.
They are consequently justifiably proud that they are indeed
"locked in a time warp of negativism'' by consistently refusing during
the 30 years since the 1974 Turkish invasion to consent to the
legitimisation of Turkey's war crimes as proposed by the backers of the
Annan Plan.
The most telling thing about what Lord Hannay had to say is his
total silence on the need for any settlement to be based on respect for
human rights, the EU acquis, international law, and more than anything,
the judgements of the Human Rights Court of the Council of Europe that
found Turkey guilty of a series of war crimes as a result of its
occupation of north Cyprus.
It would be a good thing if the "exalted Lord," as a true
representative of the now outdated "perfidious Albion,'' realised that
we now live in the 21st century with its international War Crime and
Human Rights Courts, which defend the rights of ordinary people against
the intentions of neo-colonialist super powers.
The exalted Lord would be assisted in arriving at such a
realisation if he bothered to read the conclusions of the conference of
eminent EU jurists staged in Athens last week to deal with the
"Constitutional and Legal Principles for a European Settlement of the
Cyprus Problem."
These legal experts unanimously denounced the Annan Plan as a legal
and constitutional monstrosity. They avoided using an adjective to
describe its author or authors.
He might also have reason to pause for thought if he read the
article published in the Turkish Cypriot newspaper Afrika, yesterday, by
its courageous editor Sener Levent, in which he talks about the daily
ferries arriving in the north, packed with poverty-stricken Turks eager
to take advantage of he prospect of TRNC 'citizenship'. He says that he
would not be surprised if soon the situation becomes so intolerable that
Greek and Turkish Cypriots would be living together in the south, while
the north is populated by hundreds of thousands of illegal settlers.
This is no time warp, Lord Hannay, it is happening now."
|