ABSTRACT
On 24 April 2004 a United Nations sponsored referendum took place in Cyprus, on Version Five of the Annan Plan; a peace plan that, if it had been accepted by both the Greek and Turkish Cypriots, would have led to a new United States of Cyprus, a bicommunal, bizonal federation. But while the Turkish Cypriots voted 65% in favour of the Plan, Greek Cypriots voted 76% against, to the chagrin of the EU, the UN, and the US, whose diplomats and journalists made it clear that they thought the Greek Cypriots had voted the wrong way. This is not the place to explore the many reasons for which a clear majority of Greek Cypriots found Version Five of the Annan Plan unacceptable. 1 More important for this article is that 24% of the Greek Cypriots found themselves able to support the Annan Plan, in spite of the problems it presented. While there is no reason to suppose that one in four Greek Cypriots has been active in the bicommunal movement—the subject of this article—the fact that so many Greek Cypriots voted ‘yes’ can be regarded as evidence that there is a movement of sufficient substance to merit a serious discussion.
