Sude Doğan - Weekly Articles (Haftalık Yazılar)

Annan Plan’s 20th Anniversary: A Solution to Cyprus Can Only Come Through the Will of Cypriots, Not Imperialist Impositions - Part 3 The more I write about the Annan Plan, the more I feel like writing. It's a subject that requires deep thought and extensive discussion. It's a topic that cannot be adequately covered in a series of articles; it merits entire books dedicated to its analysis. We'll surely have the chance to discuss it in depth someday. Today, I'll be writing the final installment of this series. I hope that through this series of articles, I've managed to pique some curiosity about the Annan Plan, which holds significant importance in Cyprus politics. Because the Annan Plan is a crucial lesson that all Cypriots must learn from. In my previous writings, I've touched upon various aspects of the Annan Plan: from its flag and how it fails to represent Cypriots, to its content of dismantling the Republic of Cyprus and initiating a 'virgin birth',...

The Annan Plan, still glorified to this day, foresaw the dissolution of the Republic of Cyprus. It was supposed to be a "virgin birth" on the island. Within 24 hours of the plan's acceptance, the Republic of Cyprus would be dissolved. What then? What followed was a huge unknown. For years, the phrase "independent Cyprus" has been circulating in our language, hasn't it? So let me ask you a question: can a state that continues to host the soldiers of different imperialist powers become an "independent" state? Yes, the Annan Plan foresaw the dissolution of the Republic of Cyprus; however, it preserved one thing: the Guarantee Treaty. Was a plan that would destroy the existing state while also protecting the imperialists on the island and dragging the Cypriots into uncertainty really a logical plan? Last week, we talked about the flag of the Annan Plan; we discussed how it represented Turkey in red, Greece in blue, but lacked any representation of the ...

From my elders, i always hear, "the most hopeful period we had was the Annan Plan era." In fact, the most crowded photos of İnönü Square were probably taken during this period. There were probably even songs written about this famous referendum. I'm quite young to remember those times; however, one of the political events I have read about and researched the most is undoubtedly the situation in Cyprus. Was the season really ripe for it, or did the "great powers" want Turkish Cypriots to think so? Were they trying to sell false hopes and crush dreams of reunification once again? In my upcoming articles, let's objectively and thoroughly examine the Annan Plan and what both communities experienced during that time. The biggest argument used by the proponents of two equal sovereign states against the Turkish Cypriots who still support reunification today is the significant "no" vote from the Republic of Cyprus during the Annan Plan referendum, around 7...

April 7, 1994. Exactly 30 years ago. A massacre that lasted for 100 days. The result, the near extinction of a significant portion of a country's population, an entire community. One of the United Nations' greatest failures, or perhaps one of its greatest failures: the Rwandan Genocide. Rwandans lived together for years. There was no problem among them. But then, the imperialists invaded their land, colonized Rwanda. "Divide and conquer." Just like they did in other colonized places, they divided the Rwandan people based on physical features, just as Nazi Germany did. Ethnic division and tension between the two groups increased, once neighbors and cohabitants were alienated from each other. In Rwanda, there were the minority Tutsis, who held the ruling status, and the majority Hutus, who were in the labor class. The colonizers granted ruling rights to the Tutsis, while the Hutus were subjected to inhumane working conditions. With the end of World War II and the establ...

Kazakhstan's clear stance is openly exposing the realities in Cyprus before the eyes of the world; "Two equal sovereign states in Cyprus cannot be accepted." "You close your eyes, rule in your own echo chamber, and showcase yourself in the world you've constructed in your own mind. But when reality knocks on your door, that fictional world crumbles, it collapses on you. Now tell me, will you wake up from this sleep, or will you turn a blind eye while being crushed under the wreckage of your fictional world?" "All Turkic states think like us. They defend two equal sovereign states in Cyprus," you used to say. What happened? What has changed now? Because you're outside of international law, did you think other countries would also step outside of international law? Oh dear, I feel sorry for your situation... While you're busy applauding yourself in your own echo chamber, the Republic of Cyprus sits at the same table with Kazakhstan; yet you s...