CYPRUS: Turkish Cypriot supporters of the UN reunification plan for the Mediterranean island yesterday ran the gauntlet of people within their own community determined to see it fail.
The Turkish Cypriot assembly came under conflicting pressures over the demand by the UN Secretary General, Mr Kofi Annan, to agree to the plan by March 30th.
As debate began, some 2,500 Turkish Cypriot supporters of the plan ignored efforts to intimidate them and rallied outside parliament. On Monday, Mr Izzat Izcan, the leader of the pro-unification United Cyprus party, vowed: "We will do whatever is possible, whether it is mass strikes or urban chaos, in order to force the House to take the right decision on the referendum."
His statement coincided with shots being fired at the car of the organisers of last Friday's mass rally attended by 50,000 in support of the plan and demanding the resignation of the veteran Turkish Cypriot leader, Mr Rauf Denktash, who opposes it.
Mr Annan has said that if leaders of both the Greek and Turkish communities do not agree the plan by March 10th, he will put it directly to the people. The Annan plan provides for a federation comprising two "constituent states" linked by a common administration.
A demonstration has been organised for Friday by elements loyal to Mr Denktash. They call for two independent states and insist Turkey is the "only country that has the right of intervention" in Cyprus. The assembly is due to vote on Friday.