The government plans to report what it described as “interference” with communications between air traffic control and aircraft carrying ministers from Greece, France, and the Netherlands on the part of the Turkish Cypriot authorities as the three aircraft approached Cyprus, presidential press office director Victor Papadopoulos said on Monday.

“The Republic of Cyprus will report all of this competently where appropriate,” he said, before adding that Defence Minister Vasilis Palmas would also inform the European Union’s foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas and his European counterparts of the alleged incident during Monday’s summit of EU defence ministers in Nicosia.

He said that the government was informed by the governments of France, Greece, and the Netherlands of “interference”, and that Turkish fighter jets were also “present … in the area” as the aircraft transporting Greek Defence Minister Nikos Dendias approached the island.

Asked whether the alleged incident could have been linked to the government’s signing of a status of forces agreement with France, which will allow for French troops to be stationed on the island, he remained coy, saying only that “it is an illegal action outside international law, which is condemnable”.

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Turkish Cypriot air traffic controllers’ trade union leader Kursad Hudaverdioglu had earlier told the Cyprus Mail that the allegation constitutes “a completely politically motivated, misrepresentation of a news story”, and that “the matter has nothing to do with harassment”.

Regarding the accusation that fighter jets had also been present in the area as Dendias’ aircraft approached the island, he said that the jets “took off due to an emergency”, and that “they flew to the north of the island without violating any borders from the moment they took off”.

A total of six F-16 fighter jets have been stationed at Ercan (Tymbou) airport since March, being deployed after Cyprus was hit by an Iranian-made drone. Those fighter jets were then joined by Hisar-A surface-to-air missiles.

Shortly after their deployment, Greek government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis had questioned the legality of the move, saying that it is “prohibited” for Turkey to use the aircraft for “offensive actions outside the country”.

“The invasion and occupation of the northern part of Cyprus is illegal and does not legitimise any presence of a military force on the island. The F-16s, in fact, are prohibited from being used for offensive actions outside the country by the US supply contract,” he said at the time.

Greece had also deployed four F-16s of its own to Paphos in March, and the country’s  foreign ministry’s spokeswoman Lana Zochiou had insisted t the time that her country’s own deployment was “purely defensive in nature”.

Meanwhile, Omer Celik, the spokesman of Turkey’s ruling AK Party, said of his own country’s deployment that “we have to consider the security of the TRNC”.

F-16 fighter jets were manufactured by companies from the United States, with US governments typically setting out conditions regarding their use when they are sold to other countries, though no explicit conditions regarding their use in Cyprus has ever been made public.

The most recent procurement of F-16s by the Turkish government took place in 2024, with the $23bn sale having hinged on Turkey’s parliament ratifying Sweden’s application to join Nato in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Prior to that, the Turkish air force had operated F-16s since 1987, with Turkish Aerospace Industries even manufacturing its own F-16s between 1987 and 2011. Greece acquired its own F-16s for the first time in 1989.

Before this year, Turkey had once before stationed F-16 fighter jets in Cyprus, deploying them to Gecitkale (Lefkoniko) airport in 1998 in response to Greece’s positioning of four F-16s and two Lockheed C-130 Hercules military transport aircraft at Paphos airport amid rising tensions between the two countries.