Flag of Cyprus

How to read it

Article 4 of the 1960 constitution of the Republic of Cyprus says the Republic shall have its own flag “of neutral design and colour”, chosen jointly by the President and the Vice-President. The design came from a competition in 1960 whose rules excluded red and blue, the colours of Turkey and Greece, and the cross and the crescent; President Makarios III chose the entry of the Turkish Cypriot artist İsmet Güney, with the consent of Vice-President Fazıl Küçük. The flag was adopted on 16 August 1960, when Cyprus became an independent republic. The map was at first drawn in outline; on 24 April 2006 it was changed to a solid map, Store norske leksikon says. The same article of the constitution lets public bodies fly the Greek and Turkish flags beside the flag of the Republic on holidays.

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Cyprus’s and Kosovo’s map flags

Cyprus was the first country to put a map of its territory on its national flag, and Kosovo’s flag later did the same, the Centre of Visual Arts and Research and the Cypriot news site Sigmalive note. Kosovo’s map is gold on dark blue, under six white stars that Store norske leksikon says stand for the country’s six larger peoples. Cyprus’s is copper on white, over two olive branches, with no stars.

Why the map is copper-coloured

Cyprus has large deposits of copper, and Store norske leksikon says the metal is named after the island: Κύπρος in Greek, Cyprus in Latin. Sigmalive puts it the other way round: the island is traditionally understood to take its name from the metal. The Centre of Visual Arts and Research says the map is golden yellow so that what was meant to be copper is easier to reproduce.

The coat of arms

Güney also designed the coat of arms and the first Cyprus pound, Sigmalive says. The arms are a copper-coloured shield with a silver dove holding an olive branch in its beak, above the year 1960 in silver, between two crossed green olive branches that stand for the island’s two communities, Store norske leksikon says. The shield was gold until 2006.