NICOSIA — A Cypriot official says the President of Cyprus has been admitted to a hospital in Brussels after a prolonged nosebleed that doctors said was caused by hypertension.  But the news is positive:  Cyprus government spokesman Nicos Christodoulides said President Nicos Anastasiades received treatment on Oct. 22 and will remain in hospital for two days on the advice of doctors to avoid a repeat of the nosebleed. “The decision was his, not the doctors'” Christoulides said, “as a precautionary measure,” describing Anastasiades to be in “good health.”

Christodoulides said the President will remain under close observation by a physician during his hospital stay.

The 68-year-old Anastasiades was in Brussels to attend an EU leaders’ summit. Christodoulides said the President will now miss the summit and a meeting of European Peoples Party leaders.

The President’s remarks will be distributed in writing to all leaders at both meetings.

Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras will represent Anastasiades at the European Council and the EPP meeting on Oct. 23 and is expected to raise the issue of Turkey’s violation of Cyprus’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) with the arrival of the Barbaros research vessel into an area south of the island where Nicosia was already conducting research for hydrocarbons.

Earlier, Samaras visited Anastasiades at a Brussels hotel where he was expected to rest for the next two days.

Meanwhile, a German official speaking to Greece’s AMNA new agency noted that Germany recognized Cyprus’s right to conduct research and manage natural gas resources in its EEZ area and called for Turkey to comply with international law.

The German official also expressed Germany’s concern over the fact that a new round of unification talks regarding the divided island were now on hold and said that a solution to the pending issue would be beneficial to both sides and the broader region.