Cyprus is to push for “no different treatment of invaders” with regard to the European Union’s plans to boost its military defences, Finance Minister Makis Keravnos said on Monday, ahead of a meeting of the bloc’s 27 member states’ finance ministers.

“Cyprus supports the efforts and the channelling of resources to strengthen Europe’s defence security. This defence security should create the conditions so that the EU can become a pole of stability and peace. It should also cover the entire European territory, including territories occupied by foreign countries, as is the case of Cyprus,” he said.

“There should be no different treatment of invaders in any way.”

His words come as Turkey’s role in the European defence conversation is becoming more central as the continent looks closer to home for arms as the United States steps back from its stance in Ukraine and potentially its commitments to Nato following the election of Donald Trump as its president for the second time.

Last week, Italian weapons manufacturer Leonardo and its Turkish counterpart Baykar announced a joint venture to produce unmanned aerial vehicles, while Turkey has been supplying arms to Ukraine since it was invaded by Russia in 2022.

Meanwhile, the country’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan was invited to a summit on Ukraine by British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer at the beginning of the month, while President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was alongside Starmer one of five “partner countries” briefed on the European Council’s rearmament decisions last week by European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen.

Turkey’s increasingly central role has caused concern in Cyprus, with Akel having led the charge over the weekend, criticising Cyprus’ government’s endorsement of support for Ukraine amid Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s cordial relationship with Erdogan and Turkey.

“The government … supports the arming of Ukraine to perpetuate the war. We point out that the involvement of Turkey – an occupying, aggressive power – in Ukraine is the Zelenskiy government’s fervent desire, and that government is openly supported by the Cypriot government,” it said on Saturday.

“In the European Council conclusions, which were also signed by Christodoulides, there is no mention of either the eastern Mediterranean or Turkey. On the contrary, Turkey is being invited by France and the United Kingdom to summits on Ukraine when Christodoulides does not even get an invitation,” it later added amid a flurry of back-and-forth statements with government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis.

At the European level, the debate over whether to allow contractors from the EU’s five “partner countries”, Turkey, the UK, Norway, Switzerland, and Canada, access to the boosted funding has seen French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at loggerheads.

Scholz has argued that contractors in non-EU allies must have access to the funds, while Macron has insisted that the funds be available only to domestic European manufacturers.

Given the spectre of Turkey arming itself with EU funds while the Cyprus problem remains unsolved, Christodoulides on Sunday and Keravnos on Monday have both taken Macron’s position.

Keravnos said the financial support “must focus on the European defence industry and not on the defence industries of third countries”.

His statements echoed those of Christodoulides a day prior, who had said, “EU money in relation to investment in this sector … must strengthen European defence cooperation.

“Because, as the EU, if we continue to depend on third countries in relation to our defence, our energy, our raw materials, we will never achieve our goal of strategic autonomy.”