Communist party leader rejects Annan Cyprus Plan

Communist Party of Greece (KKE) Secretary General Aleka Papariga opposed the possibility of the Annan plan for Cyprus being adopted during Thursday's meeting of political party leaders.

''Our best solidarity for the people of Cyprus is with a 'no' to the Annan plan.

We support a 'no' because the Annan plan does not create a bicommunal and bizonal federation but, on the contrary, it creates an international protectorate in the path of oil towards the Middle East which, in our view, is worse than that of Kosovo and Bosnia,'' she said during a press conference following the meeting of political leaders.

Papariga said Cyprus, as envisaged by the Annan plan, will be a ''non- state'', adding that ''it will be split three ways between the two established states and the British bases which are consolidated and supported, turning in this way into an unsinkable aircraft carrier which the United States can also use.''

''Such a state did not even exist during the colonial era,'' she said and wondered ''whether Turkey needed a price for the operation of an independent Kurdish state in Northern Iraq and whether Cyprus, and the Aegean afterwards, will constitute something in exchange for such a development.''

Papariga said all who are saying that the Annan plan serves a rapprochement between the two communities are not telling the truth and pointed out that the best rapprochement will take place on the basis of the two communities' common opposition to the plan and on the basis of common social and class interests.

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Greek Communist Party General Secretary Aleka Papariga reiterated the party's stance for clear “NO” to the Annan Plan for the solution of the Cyprus problem, in a statement she made after the Political Party Leaders Council meeting held today under President Kostis Stephanopoulos on the developments in Cyprus.

 Mrs. Papariga stated that the Greek Communist Party supports a conscious “no” that rejects any thought or idea of nationalism and chauvinism. This “no” is a “yes” to the common interests of the Greek Cypriots and the Turkish Cypriots, said Mrs. Papariga.

 Mrs. Papariga stated that the Annan Plan creates an international protectorate in the road of oil in the Mediterranean to the Middle East, adding that this will be an even worse protectorate than those in Kosovo and Bosnia. It will be an international tripartitioned protectorate, said Mrs. Papariga.

 On the Political Party Leaders Council meeting held today, she said that a true exchange of views took place.
 
Mrs. Papariga also expressed the support of the Communist Party to the Cypriot people regardless of the outcome of the referendum.