Barth Eide

President Nicos Anastasiades announced on Wednesday that he had decided to back down on his decision to controversially make public the minutes of meeting during the peace talks in Crans-Montana following a plea from UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

The center of gravity for developments on the Cyprus issue is moving to New York with the next moves expected to unfold at the United Nations headquarters.

Specifically, four essential actions are expected on the part of the UN, which are all considered crucial for the ongoing developments in the Cyprus issue, Phileleftheros reported on Wednesday.

Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades on Monday evening launched a fiery attack against UN Cyprus envoy Espen Barth Eide accusing him of lying about the failure of the talks in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, earlier this month.

Greece's Foreign Ministry hit out Monday at the United Nations special envoy for the Cyprus issue, Espen Barth Eide, after taking umbrage at comments by the Norwegian which suggested that Nicosia and Athens had not accepted a proposal by Turkey that would have led to the gradual withdrawal of troops from the island.

Government Spokesman Nicos Christodoulides says the minutes of Crans-Montana meetings may have to be made public unless the UN Secretary-General’s Special Adviser for Cyprus Espen Barth Eide changes his tune on the collapse of the talks.

Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias accused the United Nations mediator for the Cyprus problem, Espen Barth Eide, of trying to undermine the island's reunification process.

UN Cyprus envoy Espen Barth Eide is set to visit the divided island on Monday, the government spokesman told Active Radio on Wednesday.

One day earlier, Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias said in Nicosia that Eide had not prepared satisfactory the failed UN-brokered Conference on Cyprus in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, earlier this month.

Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Cyprus, Espen Barth Eide, told all sides on July 19 to quit the blame game as to the crash of the talks to unify the island.

 "Not the time to engage in a blame game. There is more than enough of that going around," Eide told members of the Security Council.        

Translated from the original Greek by George Gilson

Talks at the Swiss Alpine resort of Crans-Montana aimed at reuniting Cyprus were put on hold Wednesday morning at the request of the two sides, but are expected to resume later in the day, AFP has reported.