While calling for the unification of the split country, the plan effectively codifies its division and the presence of British, Greek, and Turkish troops.

Many of the tens of thousands present used the occasion to express their desire for national unification and opposition to the dictatorial northern regime of Raul Denktash, which has so far refused to back the Annan plan, named after the current UN secretary-general.

The demonstration, equivalent to more than a quarter of the total population of the occupied north, was the latest in a series of actions that have become a forum for opposition to the government. It was accompanied by a teachers’ strike that, according to press reports, shut down all schools. Earlier actions in November and on December 26 were also very big, numbering about 20,000 and 30,000 respectively. At the December rally demonstrators were demanding, "Yes to the Annan Plan, Yes to the EU."

The actions have been marked by the participation of a generation born after Cyprus’s occupation and division.

Protest organizers and participants took as a fait accompli the admission of Greek-Cypriot dominated southern Republic of Cyprus into the European Union (EU)--a move that was given the go-ahead by the EU summit on December 12. Such an incorporation was laid out in the UN blueprint.

Demonstrators waved flags and banners with the map of all of Cyprus surrounded by the 12 golden stars of the European Union symbol.

The plan’s rhetorical stance in favor of ending the division of the island has raised hopes among many in the north that national reunification is on the agenda. They expect that adopting it will bring an end to EU and U.S. economic sanctions against the north, and hope that an end is in sight to the presence of tens of thousands of Turkish troops.

The protest organizers have promoted such expectations. "The Annan plan did not fall from the sky. It is a middle ground, it is not ideal but the most realistic for today," said Mehmet Seyis, the general secretary of the General Confederation of Turkish-Cypriot Workers (DEV-IS) at an Athens forum of Greek and Turkish-Cypriot speakers on January 21. Seyis is a leader of the Platform "This Country is Ours," which helped to organize the protests.

"Production in the north is almost at zero, there are huge economic problems," Seyis said. "These are problems for labor and capitalists too. We will all lose unless a solution is found. People taking the streets see this as a last hope. You see several generations together. The old people come out because they fear that their children will be forced to emigrate, to leave the island. They want a united island, they want to keep their children."

"The Annan plan is a historic opportunity to create a common struggle for a common homeland," said Sevyol Ouloudak--also a leader of the Platform, at the same forum in Athens. "We want to live a normal life in a normal country with no fear of war, with no threat of emigration. We have been totally isolated for 40 years now. We Turkish-Cypriots don’t want to become extinct as a people,"

Nikos Katsouridis, a member of the Political Committee of the Stalinist Cyprus organization, the Progressive Party of Working People (AKEL), told the forum, "The political parties are united in accepting this proposal as the basis for negotiations that will bring a solution. Almost all Greek-Cypriot forces agree on this." AKEL is the largest party in parliament in the Republic of Cyprus.  
 
Plan’s real content
In its fine print, however, the UN-sponsored "reunification" plan is an elaborate institutionalization of internal division and foreign domination. It recognizes the right of Turkey and the imperialist powers of the United Kingdom and Greece to maintain troops there. Britain’s military bases will not be touched. Under a new federated structure, it legitimizes the division of the country into two autonomous regions, one Greek-Cypriot and the other Turkish-Cypriot.

According to the plan the federated state would be admitted into the EU. The presidency would rotate alternately between a member of the Greek– and Turkish-Cypriot communities. The highest courts would be presided over by nine judges--three from each community and three who would be internationally appointed. The north, currently occupied by Turkish military forces, would be reduced from 37 percent to 29 percent of the territory. Some of the tens of thousands of refugees created in the events of the 1970s would be allowed to return to their homes.

The strategically located island of Cyprus became a colony of Britain in 1878. London fostered divisions among the island’s Greek and Turkish speaking populations. In 1960 the country won formal independence. The British government maintained three large bases and, along with the governments of Greece and Turkey, the right to intervene as a "guarantor of the constitution."

In 1973 an Athens-sponsored coup with the declared aim of "unifying" the island with Greece overthrew the government of Archbishop Makarios. Ankara responded with an invasion in 1974 that led to the 40-year occupation of the northern area.  
 
Imperialist powers endorse plan
The Greek, British, and U.S. governments have endorsed the plan. U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher has supported the protests, saying, "People demonstrating in support of this opportunity to achieve peace, they are supporting the right thing," he said on January 14.

The Turkish rulers, by contrast, have been divided in their response. Spokespeople for the Justice and Development Party government, elected last November, have indicated they favor the plan as a way to bring an end to the "problem" of Cyprus and clear an obstacle to Turkey’s eventual membership of the EU. Ankara’s application has been stalled in the face of opposition from the French and other governments.

On the other hand, officers in the armed forces, who play a prominent part in political life, have declared opposition, fearing both a loss of territory and a weakening of their military grip on the north. "Turkey would definitely face security risks if Cyprus becomes an entity out of our control," said Rear Admiral Kadir Sadig to the country’s parliament on January 6.

According to the Athens News Ali Erel, the president of the Northern Cyprus Chamber of Commerce, said, "The Turkish-Cypriots have lost confidence in Denktash," given his opposition to the plan, "and can no longer tolerate this situation."

Natasha Terlexis contributed to this article.  
 
 
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