diff --git a/src/core/tests/CMakeLists.txt b/src/core/tests/CMakeLists.txt
index 0c857836eaa..b41a1cd4244 100644
--- a/src/core/tests/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/core/tests/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -450,7 +450,7 @@ if (ENABLE_INTEL_GPU AND ENABLE_OV_CORE_BACKEND_UNIT_TESTS)
     endif()
 endif()
 
-if (ENABLE_OV_CORE_BACKEND_UNIT_TESTS)
+if (ENABLE_TEMPLATE AND ENABLE_OV_CORE_BACKEND_UNIT_TESTS)
     message(STATUS "OV_CORE_TESTS: INTERPRETER enabled")
     set(ACTIVE_BACKEND_LIST ${ACTIVE_BACKEND_LIST} INTERPRETER)
     if (ENABLE_STRICT_DEPENDENCIES)