France and Cyprus are scheduled to sign a “status of forces” agreement on Monday that would allow for the deployment of French troops on the island.
It will be signed by French Defence Minister Catherine Vautrin and her Cypriot counterpart Vasilis Palmas, news website Politico reported. Both are in Nicosia, the Cypriot capital, for a meeting of European Union defence ministers.
The military deal was announced in late April by presidents of Cyprus and France, Nikos Christodoulides and Emmanuel Macron. At the time, France, alongside Italy and Greece, had deployed frigates to help protect Cyprus after a UK base on the island was struck by an Iranian drone.
Only 200km from Lebanese shores, the island of Cyprus is strategically located at the south-eastern tip of EU territory.
“An agreement will be signed at ministerial level, which will include the presence of French forces on Cypriot territory for humanitarian purposes and is within the framework of the enhanced co-operation we have with the French government,” Mr Christodoulides said.
Mr Macron said: “France is proud to be one of Cyprus's privileged partners in defence matters, both operationally and in the supply of equipment and weapons.”
The agreement will cover military co-ordination, defence technology and industry links, joint military exercises and educational activities, personnel exchanges and administrative arrangements for forces operating on each other’s territory, Politico reported.
The deal has triggered a strong reaction from Turkey, which has occupied the northern half of the island of Cyprus since 1974. About 50,000 Turkish troops are stationed there.
“Such moves risk upsetting the existing delicate balance and heightening tensions on the island,” a Turkish Defence Ministry official said after Mr Macron's visit to Cyprus in late April.
The UK also maintains a deployment of about 4,000 soldiers in its sovereign bases in Cyprus.
