Annan Eases His Stance on Cyprus Vote

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan backed away Tuesday from his insistence on holding twin Cyprus reunification votes April 24 and raised the prospect of staging the referendums after Greek Cypriots join the European Union in May.

Facing an overwhelming “no” vote by the bigger and wealthier Greek Cypriot side, Annan said that if all parties involved agreed to postpone the referendums -- due just before the internationally recognized Greek Cypriot government joins the EU on May 1 -- “that is something we will have to reflect on.”

Turkish Cypriot parties, worried that a delay would exclude them from EU membership when Cyprus joins the bloc, want a “yes” vote and are opposed to postponing the referendums.

AKEL, the largest Greek Cypriot party, is more positive about reunification than its partner in the ruling coalition, but wants to put off voting to give more time for what it calls objective assessment of the proposals.

“There has been a suggestion by one of the parties that the referendum be postponed to give them more time to campaign, but this has not been taken up by the other parties who were in the agreement,” Annan told reporters.

“If the Greek and Turkish Cypriots, with the support of the governments of Turkey and Greece, were to ask for a postponement, that is something we will have to reflect on, but there has been no such request.”

Annan presented a power-sharing plan to end three decades of partition after marathon negotiations in Switzerland last month.

Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf R. Denktash and Greek Cypriot leader Tassos Papadopoulos have rejected the U.N. plan.