The European Commission said on Tuesday it was examining reports of interference with aircraft carrying European defence ministers to Cyprus, while remaining in contact with the government.

Speaking during the Commission’s daily briefing, European External Action Service spokeswoman Anita Hipper confirmed Brussels was aware of the matter and had begun gathering information.

“We have seen the reports and are of course aware of the issue,” she said.

“We will examine exactly what happened and of course we will be in contact with our counterparts in Cyprus.”

The incident occurred on Sunday as aircraft carrying Greek Defence Minister Nikos Dendias, together with the defence ministers of France and the Netherlands, travelled to Cyprus to attend the informal meeting of European Union defence ministers in Nicosia.

According to the government, communications directed at the aircraft originated from the control tower at Tymbou (Ercan) airport in the north, while Turkish fighter jets were also observed operating in the area.

The government confirmed that aircraft carrying the Greek, French and Dutch ministers were affected and said the matter would be raised through the appropriate diplomatic channels.

Government spokesman Victor Papadopoulos said that Cyprus would “denounce all of this competently where appropriate”.

President Nikos Christodoulides described the actions as unacceptable.

“There is absolutely no excuse,” he said, adding that the incident involved aircraft from EU member states and reflected “a revisionist approach”.

Turkey subsequently rejected allegations that its aircraft had harassed ministerial flights.

In a statement issued on Monday, the Turkish Presidency’s communications directorate said reports claiming Turkish fighter jets had interfered with aircraft carrying European ministers were false.

However, Ankara confirmed that two F16 fighter jets had taken off after what it described as “aircraft entering the airspace” of the north.

According to the Turkish statement, the fighters were scrambled “as a precaution” and carried out their mission within what Ankara described as the airspace of the north.

Turkish authorities maintained that their aircraft did not enter government-controlled airspace and did not interfere with the flights in question.

The incident took place as Cyprus hosted the informal council of EU defence ministers during its EU council presidency.

The matter was discussed among ministers attending the Nicosia meeting, although EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas did not publicly comment on the incident during her remarks following the gathering.