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The PanMacedonian Association, Inc. USA delivers congratulatory
messages
to President of Cyprus, Tassos Papadopoulos
The PanMacedonian Association, Inc. USA delivers congratulatory
messages to President of Cyprus, Tassos Papadopoulos, after his
speech at Harvard University on June 1, 2004. President Papadopoulos
was extremely clear in his remarks that the NO vote of the south
side of Cyprus on the Annan Plan was strictly a vote against the
terms of the greatly unbalanced and unfair Annan V Plan and was not
a rejection for reunification of the two sides of the island.
President Papadopoulos stated: "Our
position should not be mistaken or misunderstood: We do not reject
the Annan Plan. We still believe it is a good basis for an eventual
solution. We still accept a bizonal, bicommunal function federation,
but this version of the Plan was not. But it is too important to
expect us to rush into such a fundamental and irreversible change
with what can only be described as an unseemly haste which would not
be acceptable to any other state. We do not accept that it is either
this, or nothing. After all, this is what we were told last year
with a plan which has changed significantly since. The proper way is
to continue to work hard until we reach a plan that is both
workable, equitable and acceptable to all of us. Political disputes
in this enlightened era should be solved by free negotiation and
adherence to international law and principles and not though
imposition in the service of extraneous contingencies and foreign
interests."
President Papadopoulos was even more revealing during
the question and answer period after his speech where he stated that
he is not looking for a just and fair plan because it is not
possible to get that when you have 35,000 foreign armed troops
occupying your land. What he is looking for is a plan that is
"acceptable".
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