diff --git a/mylyn.tasks/connectors/gitlab/org.eclipse.mylyn.gitlab.core.test/META-INF/MANIFEST.MF b/mylyn.tasks/connectors/gitlab/org.eclipse.mylyn.gitlab.core.test/META-INF/MANIFEST.MF
index 7dcca39f68..8f12086dd1 100644
--- a/mylyn.tasks/connectors/gitlab/org.eclipse.mylyn.gitlab.core.test/META-INF/MANIFEST.MF
+++ b/mylyn.tasks/connectors/gitlab/org.eclipse.mylyn.gitlab.core.test/META-INF/MANIFEST.MF
@@ -15,6 +15,12 @@ Require-Bundle: org.eclipse.ui,
  org.eclipse.mylyn.commons.net;bundle-version="4.2.0",
  com.google.gson,
  org.eclipse.mylyn.commons.sdk.util;bundle-version="4.2.0",
- org.eclipse.mylyn.tests.util;bundle-version="4.2.0"
+ org.eclipse.mylyn.tests.util;bundle-version="4.2.0",
+ org.eclipse.mylyn.commons.repositories.http.core,
+ org.mockito.mockito-core,
+ net.bytebuddy.byte-buddy,
+ net.bytebuddy.byte-buddy-agent,
+ org.apache.httpcomponents.httpclient,
+ org.apache.httpcomponents.httpcore
 Bundle-RequiredExecutionEnvironment: JavaSE-17
 Automatic-Module-Name: org.eclipse.mylyn.gitlab.core.test
diff --git a/mylyn.tasks/connectors/gitlab/org.eclipse.mylyn.gitlab.core.test/src/org/eclipse/mylyn/internal/gitlab/core/GitlabRestClientTest.java b/mylyn.tasks/connectors/gitlab/org.eclipse.mylyn.gitlab.core.test/src/org/eclipse/mylyn/internal/gitlab/core/GitlabRestClientTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..cf2c35834c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/mylyn.tasks/connectors/gitlab/org.eclipse.mylyn.gitlab.core.test/src/org/eclipse/mylyn/internal/gitlab/core/GitlabRestClientTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+/*******************************************************************************
+ * Copyright © 2024 max
+ * All rights reserved. This program and the accompanying materials
+ * are made available under the terms of the Eclipse Public License v2.0
+ * which accompanies this distribution, and is available at
+ * https://www.eclipse.org/legal/epl-v20.html.
+ *
+ * Contributors:
+ *      See git history
+ *******************************************************************************/
+
+package org.eclipse.mylyn.internal.gitlab.core;
+
+import static org.mockito.ArgumentMatchers.any;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.mock;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.times;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.verify;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.when;
+
+import org.apache.http.client.methods.HttpRequestBase;
+import org.eclipse.mylyn.commons.core.operations.IOperationMonitor;
+import org.eclipse.mylyn.commons.repositories.core.RepositoryLocation;
+import org.eclipse.mylyn.commons.repositories.http.core.CommonHttpClient;
+import org.eclipse.mylyn.gitlab.core.GitlabCoreActivator;
+import org.eclipse.mylyn.tasks.core.TaskRepository;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+import org.mockito.Mockito;
+
+import com.google.gson.Gson;
+import com.google.gson.JsonObject;
+
+class GitlabRestClientTest {
+
+	@SuppressWarnings("nls")
+	@Test
+	void ignoreMilestonesForProjectsWithIssuesDisabled() throws Exception {
+		RepositoryLocation location = new RepositoryLocation("http://localhost");
+		CommonHttpClient httpClient = Mockito.mock(CommonHttpClient.class);
+		when(httpClient.getLocation()).thenReturn(location);
+
+		GitlabRepositoryConnector connector = new GitlabRepositoryConnector();
+		String repoUrl = "http://localhost";
+		TaskRepository repository = new TaskRepository(GitlabCoreActivator.CONNECTOR_KIND, repoUrl);
+		repository.setProperty(GitlabCoreActivator.USE_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN, "true");
+		repository.setProperty(GitlabCoreActivator.PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN, "test-token");
+		GitlabRestClient client = new GitlabRestClient(location, httpClient, connector, repository);
+
+		JsonObject project = new Gson().fromJson("""
+				{
+				"id": 20240428,
+				"issues_enabled": false
+				}
+				""", JsonObject.class);
+		client.getProjectMilestones(project, mock(IOperationMonitor.class, Mockito.RETURNS_SELF));
+		verify(httpClient, times(0)).execute(any(HttpRequestBase.class), any(IOperationMonitor.class));
+	}
+}
diff --git a/mylyn.tasks/connectors/gitlab/org.eclipse.mylyn.gitlab.core/src/org/eclipse/mylyn/internal/gitlab/core/GitlabRestClient.java b/mylyn.tasks/connectors/gitlab/org.eclipse.mylyn.gitlab.core/src/org/eclipse/mylyn/internal/gitlab/core/GitlabRestClient.java
index 6f46a41dc8..bc8bb3c4b0 100644
--- a/mylyn.tasks/connectors/gitlab/org.eclipse.mylyn.gitlab.core/src/org/eclipse/mylyn/internal/gitlab/core/GitlabRestClient.java
+++ b/mylyn.tasks/connectors/gitlab/org.eclipse.mylyn.gitlab.core/src/org/eclipse/mylyn/internal/gitlab/core/GitlabRestClient.java
@@ -105,7 +105,13 @@ public class GitlabRestClient {
 	@SuppressWarnings("restriction")
 	public GitlabRestClient(RepositoryLocation location, GitlabRepositoryConnector connector,
 			TaskRepository taskRepository) {
-		client = new CommonHttpClient(location);
+		this(location, new CommonHttpClient(location), connector, taskRepository);
+	}
+
+	@SuppressWarnings("restriction")
+	GitlabRestClient(RepositoryLocation location, CommonHttpClient client, GitlabRepositoryConnector connector,
+			TaskRepository taskRepository) {
+		this.client = client;
 		this.connector = connector;
 		this.taskRepository = taskRepository;
 	}
@@ -1256,7 +1262,7 @@ public GitlabConfiguration getConfiguration(TaskRepository repository, IOperatio
 		for (JsonElement project : (JsonArray) projects) {
 			JsonObject projectObject = (JsonObject) project;
 			JsonArray labels = getProjectLabels(projectObject.get("id").getAsString(), monitor); //$NON-NLS-1$
-			JsonArray milestones = getProjectMilestones(projectObject.get("id").getAsString(), monitor); //$NON-NLS-1$
+			JsonArray milestones = getProjectMilestones(projectObject, monitor);
 			config.addProject(projectObject, labels, milestones);
 		}
 		if (GitlabCoreActivator.DEBUG_REST_CLIENT_TRACE) {
@@ -1278,7 +1284,7 @@ public GitlabConfiguration getConfiguration(TaskRepository repository, IOperatio
 					}
 					JsonObject projectObject = projectDetail;
 					JsonArray labels = getProjectLabels(projectObject.get("id").getAsString(), monitor); //$NON-NLS-1$
-					JsonArray milestones = getProjectMilestones(projectObject.get("id").getAsString(), monitor); //$NON-NLS-1$
+					JsonArray milestones = getProjectMilestones(projectObject, monitor);
 					if (GitlabCoreActivator.DEBUG_REST_CLIENT_TRACE) {
 						GitlabCoreActivator.DEBUG_TRACE.trace(GitlabCoreActivator.REST_CLIENT_TRACE,
 								/* repository.getRepositoryUrl() + */ "get Project: (" + (i + 1) + "/" //$NON-NLS-1$ //$NON-NLS-2$
@@ -1314,7 +1320,7 @@ public GitlabConfiguration getConfiguration(TaskRepository repository, IOperatio
 					JsonElement project = projectsArray.get(j);
 					JsonObject projectObject = (JsonObject) project;
 					JsonArray labels = getProjectLabels(projectObject.get("id").getAsString(), monitor); //$NON-NLS-1$
-					JsonArray milestones = getProjectMilestones(projectObject.get("id").getAsString(), monitor); //$NON-NLS-1$
+					JsonArray milestones = getProjectMilestones(projectObject, monitor);
 					if (GitlabCoreActivator.DEBUG_REST_CLIENT_TRACE) {
 						GitlabCoreActivator.DEBUG_TRACE.trace(GitlabCoreActivator.REST_CLIENT_TRACE,
 								/* repository.getRepositoryUrl() + */ "get Group (" + (i + 1) + "/" + groupList.length //$NON-NLS-1$ //$NON-NLS-2$
@@ -1532,7 +1538,12 @@ protected JsonArray parseFromJson(InputStreamReader in) throws GitlabException {
 		return jsonArray;
 	}
 
-	public JsonArray getProjectMilestones(String projectid, IOperationMonitor monitor) throws GitlabException {
+	public JsonArray getProjectMilestones(JsonObject project, IOperationMonitor monitor) throws GitlabException {
+		String projectid = project.get("id").getAsString();
+		boolean issuesEnabled = project.get("issues_enabled").getAsBoolean();
+		if (!issuesEnabled) {
+			return new JsonArray(0);
+		}
 		getAccessTokenIfNotPresent(monitor);
 		JsonArray jsonArray = new GitlabJSonArrayOperation(client,
 				"/projects/" + projectid + "/milestones?include_parent_milestones=true") { //$NON-NLS-1$ //$NON-NLS-2$