RSS04/17
Foreign pressure for the acceptance of a United Nations plan for the reunification of Cyprus has failed to persuade Cypriots to accept it, according to an opinion poll published Friday.
The poll, conducted Tuesday, showed that 78 percent of Greek Cypriots intend to reject the plan in the April 24 referendum, an increase from polls earlier this month that put the rejection at about 70 percent.
The telephone survey of 620 Greek Cypriots was conducted for the MEGA TV channel by RAI Consultants, with a margin of error of 4 percentage points.
Polls show that 60 percent of Turkish Cypriot are ready to accept the plan.
Greek Cypriots feel the plan favors the Turkish side by limiting the return of refugees to the north and allowing an estimated 100,000 settlers from Turkey to remain.
Recent days have seen a barrage of warnings by senior American, European Union and other foreign officials that acceptance of the plan is a last chance for the reunification of Cyprus and that a "no" vote would have serious negative effects.
The hope is that a unified Cyprus can join the European Union on May 1. But both the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot leaders have rejected the plan and urged their citizens to vote against it in the upcoming referendums.
Cyprus has been split into a Greek Cypriot south and the occupied north since Turkey invaded in 1974 in the wake of an abortive coup by supporters of union with Greece. The breakaway state in the north is only recognized by Turkey, which maintains 40,000 troops there.
