The Secretary-General met with the leaders of the two communities at the Hague on 10 and 11 March 2003 to ascertain whether they were prepared to submit his latest proposal (Annan III) to separate and simultaneous referenda. The newly elected president of Cyprus, Tassos Papadopoulos, agreed, provided the Cypriot public was offered a complete legal and political settlement framework for their consideration; Greece and Turkey had reached an agreement on vital security issues; and there was adequate time for discussion and a public campaign prior to the referendum. The Turkish side rejected the proposal of the Secretary- General. In January-February 2003, massive Turkish Cypriot demonstrations took place in the occupied areas against Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash and his Ankara supported policies. The Republic of Cyprus, as expected, signed the EU Treaty of Accession on 16 April 2003. On 23 April 2003, under growing public Turkish Cypriot discontent with the situation in occupied Cyprus, Turkey and the Turkish Cypriot leadership were compelled to partially lift restrictions, which they had imposed since 1974 along the UN ceasefire line, on the movement of Greek and Turkish Cypriots. Since then, thousands of Cypriots have been crossing regularly the ceasefire line. In addition, thousands of Turkish Cypriots cross daily to work in the free areas, to claim passports and other documents issued by the government of Cyprus and to receive free medical care. These peaceful crossings have destroyed the myth cultivated for years by Turkish propaganda that the two communities cannot live together. But these measures are no substitute for a comprehensive settlement. The U.S. government was eager to capitalize on the readiness of the Greek Cypriot side to participate in new negotiations. On the consensus that emerged in meetings with Turkey’s premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Washington, in January 2004, the U.S. administration persuaded Secretary-General Kofi Annan to call for a resumption of negotiations in New York. On 13 February 2004, it was agreed by the parties that negotiations would commence in Nicosia for changes that fell within the parameters of Annan III. In case of continuing deadlock, even after the involvement of Greece and Turkey in the process, the Secretary-General would finalize a text which would then be submitted to the two communities on Cyprus for a vote in separate and simultaneous referenda. This was a significant change in the UN Secretary-General’s mission of good offices as had been conceived since 1964. Without Security Council authorization, the SecretaryThe Cyprus Question| A brief Introduction 16
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