As things stand right now the Prime Minister of Greece Alexis Tsipras and the President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan will not attend the international conference on Cyprus that will take place in Geneva to address the issues of Security and Guarantees, a source of the Greek Cypriot side has said, noting however that things may change by the 12th of January when the conference will begin.

The same source noted that there are ideas floating around as to who might represent Tsipras and Erdogan at the conference but no final decisions have been made yet. The Greek Cypriot side, it said, has been briefed by Athens on the phone call Tsipras and Erdogan had on Monday.

As regards the issue of the EU representation at the Conference, it noted that the EU delegation comprising European Commission President Jean Claude Juncker, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini and maybe other officials as well, will be present during the discussions at the conference and will outline the EU position on the issue of Security and Guarantees.

Moreover it said that the statement that the UNSG`s Special Adviser on Cyprus Espen Barth Eide made on Monday that the EU will have a special observer role at the Conference seems to have taken into consideration the reaction of the Turkish and the Turkish Cypriot side on this issue. The same source indicated that all 15 members of the UN Security Council will probably be present in Geneva for the Conference either at the political or the diplomatic level.

On Tuesday morning the leaders of Cyprus’ two communities will begin their discussions with the chapter of Governance, in which there are six pending issues. On Monday morning they had a short discussion on this chapter. On Tuesday they will also discuss the chapters of the EU and the Economy, in which there are three and five pending issues, respectively.

As regards the meeting of the leaders on Monday afternoon, during which a brainstorming on Security and Guarantees took place, the same source said there was the intention from each side to understand the concerns of the other and that both sides believe that the system that came into force in 1960 cannot continue, as the situation now is very different.

Furthermore it noted that nothing new came up on the issue of Security and Guarantees during the telephone call between Tsipras and Erdogan.

The same source described as difficult this morning`s discussion between the leaders and their aides on the property issue. It said that the experts of the two sides discussed this afternoon for four hours the six pending issues of this chapter (the Greek Cypriot side`s expert is the head of the working group on the property issue Erato Kozakou Marcoullis) after a relevant decision taken by the leaders on Monday morning. The two leaders, Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci will be briefed on Tuesday about the outcome of their discussion.

As regards the issue of a rotating presidency, the source said that no discussion took place on this and that the two sides just reiterated their positions on this issue in which there is disagreement.

Anastasiades and Akinci are engaged in intensive talks in Geneva, which aim at finding a negotiated settlement that would reunite Cyprus, divided since the 1974 Turkish invasion.