View source for 2004 Cypriot Annan Plan referendums

{{Short description|Referendum in Cyprus}}
{{Infobox referendum
| name              = 2004 Cypriot Annan Plan referendums
| title             = Do you approve the Foundation Agreement with all its Annexes, as well as the constitution of the Greek Cypriot/Turkish Cypriot State and the provisions as to the laws to be in force, to bring into being a new state of affairs in which Cyprus joins the European Union united?
| country           = Cyprus
| date              = {{Start date|2004|4|24|df=yes}}
| outcome           = The Annan Plan, according to its own terms, became null and void. 
| part1_subject     = Greek Cypriots
| part1_choice1     = For
| part1_percentage1 = 24.17
| part1_color1      = 
| part1_choice2     = Against
| part1_percentage2 = 75.83
| part1_color2      = 
| part1_caption     = '''Voter turnout:''' 89.18%
| part2_subject     = Turkish Cypriots
| part2_choice1     = For
| part2_percentage1 = 64.91
| part2_color1      = 
| part2_choice2     = Against
| part2_percentage2 = 35.09
| part2_color2      = 
| part2_caption     = '''Voter turnout:''' 87.00%
| part3_subject     = Total
| part3_choice1     = For
| part3_percentage1 = 33.30
| part3_color1      = 
| part3_choice2     = Against
| part3_percentage2 = 66.70
| part3_color2      = 
| part3_caption     = '''Voter turnout:''' 88.68%
}}
{{Cyprus peace process}}{{Politics of Cyprus}}{{Politics of Northern Cyprus}}<!-- Do not remove this template; it is a legitimate part of this article -->

A referendum on the [[Annan Plan for Cyprus|Annan Plan]] was held in the [[Cyprus|Republic of Cyprus]] and the [[Northern Cyprus|Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus]] on 24 April 2004.<ref>[http://www.electionguide.org/election.php?ID=961 Election profile] IFES Election Guide</ref> The two communities were asked whether they approved of the fifth revision of the [[United Nations]] proposal for reuniting the island, which had been divided since 1974. While it was approved by 65% of [[Turkish Cypriots]], it was rejected by 76% of [[Greek Cypriots]]. Turnout for the referendum was high at 89% among Greek Cypriots and 87% among Turkish Cypriots, which was taken as indicative of great interest in the issue on the part of the electorates.<ref>{{cite web|title=What do the results of the referendum in Cyprus show?|url=http://www.mlkp.info/?icerik_id=34&What_do_the_results_of_the_referendum_in_Cyprus_show?|access-date=29 September 2011}}</ref>

==Background==
The referendum had originally been planned for 21 April, until the UN planners realised it was the anniversary of the coup in Athens in 1967, which set off the chain of events that led to the [[Turkish invasion of Cyprus|Turkish invasion of the island]] in 1974.<ref>{{cite news |author=Ewen MacAskill |author2=Helena Smith |title=New date to be set after blunder over Cyprus referendum |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/mar/05/turkey.eu?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487 |newspaper=The Guardian |date=5 March 2004 |access-date=9 December 2014}}</ref>

==Campaign==
===Position of political parties===
{| class="wikitable"
!Choice
!colspan=3|{{flag|Cyprus}}
!colspan=3|{{flag|Northern Cyprus}}
|-
! rowspan=6|{{tick|15}} Yes
| bgcolor={{party color|Democratic Rally}}|
| [[Democratic Rally]]<ref name=gpsg>{{cite book|url=https://www.gpsg.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/2007-P4-Chadjipadelis1.pdf|title=Analysis of the Cyprus referendum on the Annan plan|page=4}}</ref>
| [[Liberal conservatism]]
| bgcolor={{party color|Republican Turkish Party}}|
| [[Republican Turkish Party]]<ref name=after>{{cite book|url=https://www.files.ethz.ch/isn/34229/brief_11.pdf|title=Cyprus after the failure of the Annan-Plan|date=July 2004|first=Jan |last=Asmussen|page=13}}</ref>
| [[Social democracy]]
|-
| bgcolor={{party color|United Democrats}}|
| [[United Democrats]]<ref name=gpsg/>
| [[Social liberalism]]
| bgcolor={{party color|Peace and Democracy Movement}}|
| [[Peace and Democracy Movement]]<ref name=after/>
| [[Social democracy]]
|-
|colspan=3 rowspan=4|
| bgcolor={{party color|Communal Liberation Party}}|
| [[Communal Liberation Party]]<ref name=bianet/>
| [[Social democracy]]
|-
| bgcolor={{party color|United Cyprus Party}}|
| [[United Cyprus Party]]<ref name=bianet>{{cite news|url=https://bianet.org/haber/bkp-tkp-ve-ksp-evet-icin-gucbirligi-yapacak-32340|title=BKP, TKP ve KSP Evet İçin Güçbirliği Yapacak|date=8 April 2004|work=[[Bianet]]}}</ref>
| [[Democratic socialism]]
|-
| bgcolor={{party color|New Cyprus Party}}|
| [[New Cyprus Party]]<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.kibrispostasi.com/c35-KIBRIS_HABERLERI/n322466-ykp-evetimizi-lekeleyen-zamanin-siyasetcilerini-kiniyoruz|title=YKP: "Evet"imizi lekeleyen zamanın siyasetçilerini kınıyoruz"|date=26 April 2004|work=[[Kıbrıs Postası]]}}</ref>
| [[Democratic socialism]]
|-
| bgcolor=red|
| [[:tr:Kıbrıs Sosyalist Partisi|Socialist Party of Cyprus]]<ref name=bianet/>
| [[Democratic socialism]]
|-
! rowspan=7|{{xmark|15}} No
| bgcolor={{party color|Progressive Party of Working People}}|
| [[Progressive Party of Working People]]<ref name=gpsg/>
| [[Communism]]
| bgcolor={{party color|National Unity Party (Northern Cyprus)}}|
| [[National Unity Party (Northern Cyprus)|National Unity Party]]<ref name=ethz>{{cite book|url=https://www.files.ethz.ch/isn/144221/Media%20Narratives,%20Politics%20and%20the%20Cyprus%20Problem.pdf|title=Media Narratives, Politics and the Cyprus Problem|first1=Christophoros|last1=Christophorou|first2=Sanem|last2=Şahin |first3=Synthia|last3=Pavlou|pages=44–45}}</ref>
| [[National conservatism]]
|-
| bgcolor={{party color|Democratic Party (Cyprus)}}|
| [[Democratic Party (Cyprus)|Democratic Party]]
| [[Centrism]]
| bgcolor={{party color|Democratic Party (Northern Cyprus)}}|
| [[Democratic Party (Northern Cyprus)|Democratic Party]]<ref name=ethz/>
| [[Conservatism]]
|-
| bgcolor={{party color|Movement for Social Democracy}}|
| [[Movement for Social Democracy]]<ref name=gpsg/>
| [[Social democracy]]
| bgcolor=darkred|
| [[:tr:Milliyetçi Adalet Partisi|Nationalist Justice Party]]<ref name=ethz/>
| [[Idealism (Turkey)|Idealism]]
|-
| bgcolor={{party color|New Horizons (Cyprus)}}|
| [[New Horizons (Cyprus)|New Horizons]]<ref name=gpsg/>
| [[Right-wing populism]]
|-
| bgcolor={{party color|Fighting Democratic Movement}}|
| [[Fighting Democratic Movement]]<ref name=gpsg/>
| [[Conservatism]]
|-
| bgcolor={{party color|Ecological and Environmental Movement}}|
| [[Ecological and Environmental Movement]]<ref name=gpsg/>
| [[Green politics]]
|-
| bgcolor={{party color|European Democracy (Cyprus)}}|
| [[European Democracy (Cyprus)|For Europe]]<ref name=gpsg/>
| [[National conservatism]]
|}

===Republic of Cyprus===
Political leaders in the [[Cyprus|Republic of Cyprus]] strongly opposed the plan. [[Tassos Papadopoulos]], president of the Republic of Cyprus, spoke out against the plan in a speech broadcast live on television. Two days before the referendums, Cyprus's biggest party, [[Progressive Party of Working People]], decided to reject the Annan Plan. [[List of Prime Ministers of Greece|Greek Prime Minister]] [[Kostas Karamanlis]] decided to maintain a "neutral" position over the plan, but opposition leader [[George Papandreou]] of [[Panhellenic Socialist Movement|PASOK]] urged Cypriots to vote in favour, also because the plan had been promoted by his political party while it was still in power and Papandreou had been the Foreign Minister at the time, and had claimed both communities were ready for "a final common agreement". Nevertheless,  opinion polls conducted in the Republic of Cyprus over the entire period of the negotiations from start to finish had always shown around 80% opposition to the proposals. Greek Cypriots have not voted uniformly on the Annan Plan.
Their voting behaviour was strongly depended on their partisanship and their location.<ref name="psa">[http://www.polres.gr/en/sites/default/files/PSA2007.pdf Chadjipadelis, T. & Andreadis, I. (2007). Analysis of the Cyprus Referendum on the Annan Plan. 57th Political Studies Association Annual Conference]</ref>

===Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus===
Among Turkish Cypriots the plan was argued to be excessively pro-Greek, but most said they were willing to accept it as a means of ending their prolonged international isolation and exclusion from the wider [[Economy of Europe|European economy]]. However, it was opposed by their leadership, with the Turkish Cypriot President [[Rauf Denktaş]] actively advocating a no vote. However, his Prime Minister [[Mehmet Ali Talat]] favoured the plan's acceptance, while [[List of Prime Ministers of Turkey|Turkish Prime Minister]] [[Recep Tayyip Erdoğan]] also supported it. Turkey saw a resolution of the Cyprus issue as being an essential first step to eventual Turkish membership of the EU as well as a way of defusing tensions with Greece.

The [[Grey Wolves (organization)|Grey Wolves]] (a Turkish [[right-wing]] [[nationalist]] group belonging to the [[Nationalist Movement Party|MHP]] nationalist party) actively advocated a "no" vote. There were some limited riots caused by Grey Wolves activists against pro-ratification supporters during the pre-vote period, with at least 50 such activists arriving in Northern Cyprus during the pre-voting period. However, the referendum itself was carried out peacefully and deemed free and fair.

==Referendum question==
The question put to the electorate of the two communities was:
 
{{blockquote|Do you approve the Foundation Agreement with all its Annexes, as well as the constitution of the Greek Cypriot/Turkish Cypriot State and the provisions as to the laws to be in force, to bring into being a new state of affairs in which Cyprus joins the European Union united?|Annex IX|Article 1.1}}

==Results==
{|class=wikitable style=text-align:right
!rowspan=2 style="border-top-width:6px;"|Choice
!colspan=2 style="border-top:solid 6px #2175d8; border-bottom-color:#2175d8"|Greek Cypriots
!colspan=2 style="border-top:solid 6px #e30a17; border-bottom-color:#e30a17"|Turkish Cypriots
!colspan=2 style="border-top-width:6px"|Total voters
|-
!Votes
!%
!Votes
!%
!Votes
!%
|-
|align=left|For
|99,976||24.17
|style="background-color:#f5c6c4; font-weight:bold"|77,646
|style="background-color:#f5c6c4; font-weight:bold"|64.91
|177,622||33.30
|-
|align=left|Against
|style="background-color:#a7c1e8; font-weight:bold"|313,704
|style="background-color:#a7c1e8; font-weight:bold"|75.83
|41,973||35.09||355,677||66.70
|-
|align=left|Invalid/blank votes||14,907||3.48||5,344||4.28||20,251||3.66
|-
|align=left|'''Total'''||'''428,587'''||'''100'''||'''124,963'''||'''100'''||'''553,550'''||'''100'''
|-
|align=left|Registered voters/turnout||480,564||89.18||143,636||87.00||624,200||88.68
|-
|align=left colspan=7|Source: [http://www.greeknewsonline.com/?p=1325 GreekNews], [http://www.electionguide.org/results.php?ID=961 Election Guide]
|}

==Aftermath==
Since the Greek Cypriot Community did not approve the Plan, and implementation of the Plan was dependent on its approval by ''both'' communities, the Annan Plan, according to its own terms, became null and void.

{{blockquote|Should the Foundation Agreement not be approved at the separate simultaneous referenda, or any guarantor fail to sign the Treaty on matters related to the new state of affairs in Cyprus by 29 April 2004, it shall be null and void, and have no legal effect.|Annex IX|Article 1.2}}

===Participation issues===
Greek Cypriots disputed the right of Turkish Cypriots who had immigrated from Turkey since the 1974 breakaway. Following the referendum, Greek Cypriot President [[Tassos Papadopoulos]] wrote to [[Kofi Annan]], complaining that:

{{blockquote|However, under the final Plan not only the entirety of settlers were to remain in Cyprus and the possibility for a permanent flow of settlers from Turkey was left open, but all of them were allowed to vote during the referendum. This was so, despite established international law and UN practice, and persistent repeated calls of our side to the contrary, which were utterly disregarded. The end result, is that once more the settlers have participated in formulating the will of Turkish Cypriots during the referendum of April 24, and this against every norm of international law and practice.|<ref>From {{cite web|title=Letter by the President of the Republic, Mr Tassos Papadopoulos, to the U.N. Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, dated 7 June, which circulated as an official document of the U.N. Security Council|url=http://www.cyprus.gov.cy/moi/pio/pio.nsf/All/E570E4948868A105C2256EAE003CAAE0?OpenDocument|publisher=Cyprus PIO|access-date=28 September 2011|archive-date=23 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923212446/http://www.cyprus.gov.cy/moi/pio/pio.nsf/All/E570E4948868A105C2256EAE003CAAE0?OpenDocument|url-status=dead}}</ref>}}

The British [[Foreign Affairs Select Committee]] noted that while the settler population did not "swing" the vote, "as illegal immigrants they should not have been allowed to vote at all".<ref>{{cite web|title=Cyprus|url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200405/cmselect/cmfaff/113/11305.htm|publisher=Select Committee on Foreign Affairs|access-date=29 September 2011}}</ref>

===Reaction===

====Greek Cypriots====
The [[Cyprus|Republic of Cyprus]]' president, [[Tassos Papadopoulos]], said that Greek Cypriots had rejected just the Annan plan and not all solutions to the Cyprus problem. "They are not turning their backs on their Turkish Cypriot compatriots," he said soon after the results were declared. "They have simply rejected this particular solution on offer."

====Turkish Cypriots====
Turkish Cypriot President [[Rauf Denktaş]] responded to the referendum outcome by saying that, with the Annan Plan rejected, his "no" campaign had reached its objective. He rejected calls for his immediate resignation, but announced the following month that he would not be standing for a fifth presidential term in 2005.

====Greece, Turkey and the United Kingdom====
There was varied reaction from Cyprus' Guarantor Powers, [[Greece]], [[Turkey]] and the [[United Kingdom]]. Turkey's Prime Minister [[Recep Tayyip Erdoğan]] said that he believed the result spelled an end for Turkish Cypriot isolation, and that by rejecting the Annan Plan, "southern Cyprus (was) the loser". A spokesman for the Greek government stressed that efforts to reunite Cyprus should not be halted, pointing out that in the EU framework it is "in the interest of everyone to continue efforts to reconcile Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots".

The [[Foreign and Commonwealth Office|British Foreign Secretary]] [[Jack Straw]] said, "We will respect the choice which Greek Cypriots have expressed today. But I hope that they will continue to reflect on whether this choice is the right one for them." The general international reaction to the result was similar to that of Britain: one of deep disappointment, particularly among those bodies that had worked on the Annan Plan and on EU accession arrangements.

====European Union====
The European Union had been counting on approval of the Annan Plan so that Cyprus would join it as a united island, and expressed disappointment at the Greek Cypriot rejection of the Plan. It had already agreed that the Republic of Cyprus would become a member regardless of the result of the referendum, and so on May 1, 2004, Cyprus joined the European Union together with [[2004 enlargement of the European Union|nine other countries]].

With regard to the Turkish Cypriots the European Union stated the following:

{{blockquote|The whole of the island is in the EU. However, in the northern part of the island, in the areas in which the Government of Cyprus does not exercise effective control, EU legislation is suspended in line with Protocol 10 of the Accession Treaty 2003.<ref>{{cite web|title=Protocol No 10 On Cyprus|url=http://www.ktto.net/english/protocolno10.doc|access-date=29 September 2011}}</ref> The situation will change once a Cyprus settlement enters into force and it will then be possible for EU rules to apply over the whole of the island. However, the suspension does not affect the personal rights of Turkish Cypriots as EU citizens. They are citizens of a Member State, the Republic of Cyprus, even though they may live in the northern part of Cyprus, the areas not under government control.|<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/turkish_cypriot_community/index_en.htm |title=European Commission - Enlargement - Turkish Cypriot community - Enlargement |publisher=Ec.europa.eu |access-date=2011-01-02 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101210081344/http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/turkish_cypriot_community/index_en.htm |archive-date=2010-12-10 }}</ref>}}

Had the plan been ratified by both sides, Cyprus would have entered the EU as the [[Annan Plan for Cyprus|United Republic of Cyprus]].

====Other international reaction====
{{more citations needed section|date=March 2014}}
*[[United Nations Secretary-General]] [[Kofi Annan]]: "A unique and historic chance to resolve the Cyprus problem has been missed."
*[[European Commission]]: "The European Commission deeply regrets that the Greek Cypriot community did not approve the comprehensive settlement of the [[Cyprus Dispute|Cyprus problem]], but it respects the democratic decision of the people."
*[[US State Department|US State Department Spokesman]] [[Richard Boucher]]: "We are disappointed that a majority of Greek Cypriots voted against the settlement plan. Failure of the referendum in the Greek Cypriot community is a setback to the hopes of those on the island who voted for the settlement and to the international community."
*[[European Commission|European Commissioner for Enlargement]] [[Günter Verheugen]]: "I feel cheated by the Greek Cypriot government... There is a shadow now over the accession of Cyprus. What we will seriously consider now is finding a way to end the economic isolation of the Turkish Cypriots."
*[[Álvaro de Soto|UN Special Envoy Álvaro de Soto]]: "This evening I'm biting my tongue."

==See also==
*[[Embargo against Northern Cyprus]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.oxi-no.org/ No to the Annan Plan] Campaign against the Annan Plan
*[http://www.oxistosxedioanan.com/ Oxi sto Sxedio Anan] Campaign against the Annan Plan {{in lang|el}}
*[http://unannanplan.agrino.org/ The UN Annan Plan Proposal For the settlement of the Cyprus question] legal analysis of the Annan Plan
*[http://mondediplo.com/2004/05/07cyprus Le Monde Diplomatique] Implications for the "No" Vote in Cyprus
*[http://www.fco.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/ShowPage&c=Page&cid=1007029391638&a=KArticle&aid=1082825534795 Press Release] UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office

{{Cypriot elections}}
{{Northern Cyprus elections}}<!-- Do not remove this template; it is a legitimate part of this article -->
{{Cyprus dispute}}

[[Category:2004 referendums|Cyprus]]
[[Category:Referendums in Cyprus|Referendum]]
[[Category:Referendums in Northern Cyprus]]
[[Category:2004 in Cyprus|Referendum]]
[[Category:2000s in Cypriot politics|Referendum]]
[[Category:2004 in Northern Cyprus|Referendum]]
[[Category:Cyprus peace process]]