France's Minister of Defense Catherine Vautrin (left) and her Cypriot counterpart Vasilis Palmas sign an agreement during an informal EU defense meeting in Nicosia, on Monday, June 8, 2026. [Petros Karadjias/AP]
Ankara has reacted strongly to the recent announcement of a military cooperation agreement between France and Cyprus facilitating the deployment of French forces on Cypriot territory.
Warning of “dangerous consequences,” the Turkish Defense Ministry said the status of forces agreement (SOFA) “unilaterally aims to change the sensitive balances on the island and ignores the will and sovereign equal rights of Cypriot Turks.”
Claiming that the deal runs contrary to the 1960 Cyprus Treaties and international law, the ministry said that “this and similar steps, which have no legitimacy whatsoever and whose consequences have not been carefully thought through, are of a nature that could lead to dangerous consequences for the south of the island.”
The agreement was signed on Monday on the sidelines of an informal meeting of EU defense ministers in Nicosia by Cypriot Defense Minister Vasilis Palmas and his French counterpart, Catherine Vautrin.
