President Nikos Christodoulides held a one-on-one meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan following the six-party meal which officially kicked off the enlarged meeting on the Cyprus problem in the Swiss city of Geneva on Monday evening.

Neither made public statements after the meeting, with Christodoulides set to convene the National Council for a second time within the space of hours to discuss the day’s goings on.

Meanwhile, Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar left the meeting calling for cooperation between the involved parties.

He told reporters that the meal “went well” and that the “main issues” will be discussed on Tuesday.

He added that “Turkey’s support is important to us” and said he had told United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that there are “issues and problems in Cyprus”.

“Cooperation is essential. The mission of this meeting is cooperation,” he said.

Indications that the meeting went well continued to follow, with Talip Atalay, Turkish Cypriot ‘MP’ for ruling coalition party the YDP, openly entertaining the possibility of a federal solution to the Cyprus problem, if stressing that there is work to do to get there.

“A solution based on a federation would only be possible by establishing trust and ensuring equality between the sides. The Greek Cypriot side’s uncompromising attitude on certain points was one of the biggest obstacles to past processes. There is a serious anti-Turkish structure in southern Cyprus and this mentality needs to change,” he said.

He did return to the message later in the show, saying he is in favour of peace in Cyprus but that “peace should be built on solid foundations”.

“The reason we adopted the two-state position is our desire to eliminate negative grounds in order to achieve a permanent peace,” he said.

Christodoulides ended the evening by convening the National Council for a second time, with government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis saying after the meeting that the meal “was more of a social nature”, before outlining Christodoulides’ schedule for Tuesday.

He also said Christodoulides’ one-on-one meeting with Fidan was “a social, short conversation”.

“It was not a discussion that concerned or touched on the substance of the discussion,” he added.

Meanwhile, Fidan and Tatar briefed the Turkish Cypriot delegation at the meeting

There were two tables set up for Monday evening’s meal, with one being sat at by Guterres, UN under-secretary-general for peacebuilding Rosemary DiCarlo, Christodoulides, Tatar, Fidan, Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis, and the UK’s minister of state for Europe Stephen Doughty.

At the other table sat Tatar’s special representative Gunes Onar, Greek Cypriot chief negotiator Menelaos Menelaou, UN peacekeeping force in Cyprus chief Colin Stewart, Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Mehmet Kemal Bozay, Greek Deputy Foreign Minister Alexandra Papadopoulou, and British high commissioner in Nicosia Michael Tatham.

After the day’s first National Council meeting, government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis had declared that all National Council members share a “common goal” for the Geneva talks.

“There is a concord, there is a spirit of constructive unity, with a common goal – the goal of enabling this multilateral conference to be a springboard towards breaking the deadlock, towards the resumption of negotiations,” he said.

He added that despite “different approaches” to the Cyprus problem favoured by the council’s members, “what we should note with great satisfaction, emphasise, and underline, is the unity, but also the responsibility demonstrated by all the political forces, the entire National council”.

“The preparation is intensive, the will is clear, and our positions are clear. These are positions within the agreed framework, as defined in all the United Nations security council’s resolutions, in accordance with the principles and values of the European Union,” he said.

Monday’s National Council meeting comprised former president Nicos Anastasiades, Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos, European affairs deputy minister Marilena Raouna and all political party representatives apart from Elam.

On the matter of the EU, he confirmed that the bloc would be represented by the head of the EU’s Cyprus settlement support unit Giulia Bertezzolo.

However, he said, Bertezzolo will not be party to the summit, but will instead carry out engagements on its sidelines. These engagements included a meeting with Raouna while the meal was going on.

Looking ahead to the summit itself, Letymbiotis said preparations are being made “in view of multiple scenarios in all eventualities as to what our position will be”.

He said the Greek Cypriot side has “specific initiatives and specific proposals” for every foreseeable scenario and added that it will insist on negotiations geared towards a bizonal, bicommunal, federal solution to the Cyprus problem.

“We will certainly reiterate at every opportunity that every discussion which will be held, every discussion to which we will contribute, will be a discussion which is always within the agreed framework as set by the UN security council,” he said.

Key figures arrived in Geneva throughout Monday afternoon, with Gerapetritis travelling to the city straight from the day’s European foreign affairs council meeting in Brussels.

There, he had said Cyprus “can no longer be divided”.

“Division can never be the solution. Unification is the only solution, for a united Europe, for a peaceful world,” he said, while also calling for the European Union to play a more active role in the peace talks.

Earlier, Tatar and Fidan had arrived together, with Tatar telling reporters upon his arrival at the Intercontinental hotel that the meeting is “a step” and expressing hope for a “good outcome”.

“However, the outcome of the meeting depends on the Greek Cypriot side’s actions,” he said.

He added, “nowhere can be reached without seeing the facts of Cyprus”, and said, “we are not looking back, we are looking forward”. Fidan did not make any public statements.