Outgoing United Nations special representative in Cyprus Colin Stewart on Tuesday said a solution to the Cyprus problem is “not for the United Nations to impose”.

Speaking after a farewell meeting with Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar, he moved to justify comments he had made in interviews to local news outlets in the last few days in which he was critical of efforts towards a two-state solution, which have been led by Tatar.

“I have been making a number of statements publicly and there’s been some reaction to some of the things that I’ve said. I want to be clear that the United Nations is, of course, guided by security council resolutions,” he said.

Existing security council resolutions regarding the Cyprus problem stipulate that it be resolved with a bizonal, bicommunal federal model with political equality between the island’s two communities.

However, Stewart said, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “has led the way in saying that for there to be a freely negotiated solution, there needs to be a mutual acceptance of some solution”.

He did stress that with regard to a solution to the Cyprus problem, “there are some options that are more realistic than others”.

He then added that opinion polling on the matter has “has shown that a majority of Turkish Cypriots and a majority of Greek Cypriots would like to see a successfully negotiated mutually acceptable solution, whatever that might be”.

Of his relationship with Tatar, he said that “of the Cypriot leaders, he’s the one I’ve dealt with the longest and he has been in power since I arrived” in 2021. Tatar was elected in October 2020.

“We’ve had, I think, good conversations over the years and I’ve thanked him for that, and I thanked him for his constructive approach,” he added.

He then said that Tatar is “a man who cares deeply about Turkish Cypriots and wants their best interests”, and that he “has always tried to be constructive in his pursuit of that”.

He added that on Tuesday, he had discussed with Tatar “a wide range of issues”, that the meeting was “very friendly and courteous”, and that he had “thanked [Tatar] for his cooperation”.

Stewart’s statements included telling newspaper Phileleftheros that “first of all, there are not many people in the north who take a two-state solution seriously”.

“Some politicians support this solution and there is rhetorical support from Ankara. But you ask, how will this happen? There is no two-state solution. There is no scenario under which the north will turn into an independent state recognised by the international community. That is not going to happen,” he said.

Following a similar “farewell meeting” with President Nikos Christodoulides Monday, he had stressed that both sides of the island “have to listen to the other”.

“You have to be willing to listen to legitimate concerns and to recognise that everybody in Cyprus has suffered. There is no side that has not suffered,” he added.

He said the UN will “continue to lend all of its support to Cypriots” in the pursuit of a solution to the Cyprus problem but stressed that “it is not for the United Nations to solve itself”.