Foreign Ministry suggests Eide favored Turkey in failed Cyprus peace talks

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.

"It appears that Mr Eide is making statements as someone who intends to resign from the post of UN mediator in favor of taking up what would apparently be the more satisfactory position of spokesperson for the Turkish government," the Greek Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Although Eide insisted in an interview with the Cyprus News Agency (CNA) on Saturday that there had been a "collective failure" in the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana, where the last round of the reunification talks took place, he also suggested there had been a genuine offer from...