Referendum on April 21

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan determined the calendar to solve the Cyprus issue, which has been pending for 40 years. Annan decided that the talks on the issue should start on February 10 in New York and bargains should be completed by the end of March. Thereby, the resulting document will be placed to a referendum on April 21.The party, which does not accept the road map put forward by Annan, will be dubbed as “uncompromising.” If no difficulty appears, Turkish Cyprus will be able to become a member of EU simultaneously with the Greek Cyprus on May 1. A meeting on Cyprus was held under Alvaro De Soto, the special representative of Annan, in New York on Wednesday. U.S. Cyprus Coordinator Thomas Weston and Mediterranean Coordinator Dominick Chircott joined the meeting as well. According to diplomatic sources, the meeting resulted in the decision to send invitation letters to Turkish Cypriot President Rauf Denktas and Greek Cypriot Leader Tasos Papadopulos to commence talks on February 10. The acceptance of the invitation will automatically mean that the conditions of Annan are accepted. Solution CalendarUN Secretary General tied the solution to the following calendar:• February 10-March 31: The parties will negotiate on the basis of the Annan Plan and guarantor countries will also join the negotiations.• March 1-March 21: EU rules and regulations will be tackled.• April 21: Both the Turkish side and the Greek side will submit the resulting document to a referendum.• May 1: Cyprus will become an EU member as a united country with a new constitution. �