I think the crux of the speculation argument is that, normally, speculation entails chasing high returns for high risk. Now, even if the high risk was there, did the Cypriot banks return substantially more than what you could get elsewhere in Europe?
That was, indeed, the case with Iceland, so since they were offering well above average returns, I’m comfortable with calling foreign investors there “speculators”. But if that was not the case with Cyprus, then they were not chasing high returns in exchange for risk, they were chasing favorable tax treatement and money laundering in exchange for risk.