A Turkish combat drone, likely a Bayraktar TB2 or a Bayraktar Akinci, was circling in the skies above Cyprus on Saturday afternoon, east of Kyrenia, near the village of Ayios Epiktitos.

The drone had earlier been flying off the coast of Dalaman, in the southwest of Turkey, before flying up Turkey’s southern coast and then to Cyprus.

The drone’s excursion comes with the United States and Israel having launched strikes on Iran, and Iran having retaliated with strikes on US bases in nearby countries.

Iranian-American academic Seyed Mohhamad Marandi, who is known to have close relations with the Iranian government, had written on Saturday that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is “allowing the US to use its bases in the country against the Islamic Republic”.

He added that Erdogan is also permitting the American use of airborne warning and control system (Awacs) aircraft in Turkish airspace “against Iran”.

The Bayraktar TB2 has been previously deployed by Turkey to strike Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and People’s Protection Units (YPG) targets in Iraq and Syria and has also been used by the Ukrainian armed forces in their war against Russia, and by Azerbaijan during the second Karabakh war.

Likewise, the Bayraktar Akinci, a newer drone, was notably deployed to find the site of the 2024 Varzaqan helicopter crash, in which Ebrahim Raisi and Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Iran’s then president and foreign minister, were both killed.

In 2024, the north’s air traffic controllers’ trade union chairman Cem Kapisiz had warned that the north’s Gecitkale (Lefkoniko) airbase “may be used” by the Turkish air force if tensions continue to rise in the Middle East.

He had at the time told television channel Kanal Sim that the airbase is currently being used by unarmed aircraft which operate in the region for “surveillance purposes”.

However, he said, “the war in the Middle East is getting hotter day by day”, and as such, “Gecitkale could be used if Turkey also gets involved in the tensions in the region.”

The airbase was formally handed over to Turkey’s armed forces in January 2024, having been used for military purposes since 2019.

Previously, Turkey had briefly stationed six F-16 fighter jets at the airport in 1998 in response to Greece’s positioning of four F-16s and two Lockheed C-130 Hercules military transport aircraft at Paphos airport amid rising tensions between the two countries.

The airport had been leased to late Polly Peck and Kibris Media Group owner Asil Nadir between 2010 and 2023. He had harboured ambitions of transforming it into a VIP and charter hub, but the ruling coalition terminated its contract with him in January 2024.