Cyprus at the meeting of the informal EU Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) on Monday called for the immediate mobilisation was needed from both EU institutions and member states regarding the arrest of the five Greek Cypriots, which remain under arrest in the north over alleged spying.

“The necessity for immediate mobilisation of both the EU institutions and its member states by exerting pressure on Turkey to release our fellow citizens was emphasised in the meeting,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

The Republic of Cyprus was represented by the foreign ministry’s Deputy Permanent Secretary, Ambassador Theodora Konstantinidou, who “urgently raised the issue of the continued illegal detention of the five Greek Cypriot citizens by the occupying forces”, during the FAC video conference.

According to the foreign ministry, further issues raised at the informal meeting included the “continued Russian aggression against Ukraine in view of the upcoming meeting of the American President with the Russian President, as well as the latest developments in the Middle East.”

The FAC meeting was held at the initiative of European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas.

The five Greek Cypriots in question were arrested on 19 July for alleged espionage in the northern village of Galatia, near Trikomo. The case sparked heated reactions from the leaders of the island’s two communities.

All five have remained in custody since then, with two having been handed three-month remands at a court in Trikomo, facing charges of privacy violations, trespassing, and breaching the peace, and all five then being handed 13-day remands at a military court in northern Nicosia, after one was accused of having entered the north illegally, and the other four were accused of aiding and abetting that crime.

Last week, the Turkish Cypriot authorities arrested two more people, an 83-year-old estate agent and a land registry employee, on suspicion of aiding and abetting the five.