Nicosia, Cyprus. The French government is expected on Monday to sign a status of forces agreement allowing it to station troops in Cyprus, according to reports published on Sunday. The Cyprus News Agency said the agreement is due to be signed in Nicosia by French Armed Forces Minister Catherine Vautrin and Cypriot Defence Minister Vasilis Palmas.
Agreement to be signed in Nicosia
Both ministers are set to attend the informal European foreign affairs council meeting in its defence configuration in the Cypriot capital on the same day.
Plans for the agreement were announced by Cypriot government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis during French President Emmanuel Macron’s most recent visit to the island in April.
Cypriot government outlines purpose
Letymbiotis said at the time that the agreement would “strengthen humanitarian military cooperation and joint action at a regional level” and “provide for the presence of French forces on Cypriot territory for humanitarian purposes”.
Macron links defence presence to regional security
During his visit to Cyprus, Macron spoke at length about defence, saying that the mass deployment of European military hardware in and around Cyprus after the island was hit by an Iranian-made drone in March “constituted a reaffirmation of our determination to secure Europe’s space”.
“I said it in a simple way on March 9, that when Cyprus was attacked, it was Europe which was attacked,” he said.
He added that “we therefore reinforced defence capabilities in the region with the deployment of military assets, in particular with the French carrier strike group” belonging to the aircraft carrier the Charles de Gaulle, which has been in the region since last month.
Macron also said, “This support and this concrete manifestation of the solidarity which links us as members of the European Union, and in terms of relations between France and Cyprus, was bolstered in December in the form of the strategic partnership,” referring to the deal he had signed with President Nikos Christodoulides in Paris at the end of last year.
Opposition from Turkish Cypriot leadership
The planned agreement has not been universally welcomed in the region. Turkish Cypriot ‘prime minister’ Unal Ustel described it as “extremely dangerous, provocative, and an unacceptable step”.
He said the plans “are likely to seriously damage the atmosphere of peace and tranquillity on the island”, and that Christodoulides and “people of his mindset” speak “on the one hand … of a new negotiation process, while on the other ignoring and disregarding the Turkish Cypriot people”.
