Constructs such as these are an error as they are direct self-references:

 set_property(TARGET foo APPEND PROPERTY
   INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES $<TARGET_PROPERTY:foo,INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES>)
 set_property(TARGET foo APPEND PROPERTY
   INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES $<TARGET_PROPERTY:INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES>)

However, this is an indirect self-reference in a cycle, and not an error:

 set_property(TARGET foo APPEND PROPERTY
   INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES $<TARGET_PROPERTY:bar,INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES>)
 set_property(TARGET bar APPEND PROPERTY
   INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES $<TARGET_PROPERTY:foo,INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES>)