The flag of Cyprus and what it stands for

The Cyprus flag is one of very few in the world to carry a map of the country, and that isn’t a design whim. It was the answer to a political problem in 1960, when an island with two communities needed a symbol that belonged to neither. Here’s what it looks like, what each element means and what the constitution says, from the Republic’s own official sources.

What does it look like?

The field is white. At the centre is the outline of the whole island in copper, and beneath it two crossed olive branches in green. The official publication «Cyprus at a glance», from the government’s Press and Information Office, even sets the shades, Pantone 1385 C for the copper and Pantone 574 C for the olive green. According to the same publication, the flag was defined in 1960, when Cyprus became an independent sovereign state after British rule.

The island in the outline is the whole island, including the northern part, outside the Republic’s control since 1974. For that background, start with why Cyprus is divided.

Why copper and olive?

The government explains that the copper colour carries two meanings. First, the island’s name is said to come from an ancient word for copper, Eteocypriot or Sumerian in origin. Second, Cyprus has been tied to the metal since antiquity, when it became a major producer and supplier around the Mediterranean. The olive branches are simply a symbol of peace. The story of the name is in the name of Cyprus.

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Neutral by constitutional order

For me, this is where it gets good. Article 4 of the 1960 constitution says the Republic shall have its own flag of neutral design and colour, chosen jointly by the President and the Vice-President. Under the 1960 settlement the President was to be a Greek Cypriot and his deputy a Turkish Cypriot, and Article 47 confirms that settling the flag’s design and colour was one of the powers they exercised together. Hence no Greek blue and no Turkish red. How that system worked, and what’s left of it, is in the political system of Cyprus.

Article 4 goes further. Public authorities fly the Republic’s flag and may also fly the Greek and Turkish flags together on holidays. Each community’s authorities may fly the Greek or Turkish flag alongside the Republic’s on holidays. And any citizen may fly the Republic’s, the Greek or the Turkish flag on their own premises without restriction. That’s why, perfectly legally, you can see a Greek flag on a balcony in the south.

The very next article, Article 5, follows the same balancing act for the calendar, giving the Greek and Turkish communities the right to celebrate the Greek and Turkish national holidays respectively. Read together, the two articles show how carefully the 1960 settlement tried to give each community its symbols while keeping one shared flag for the state.

The coat of arms

The emblem follows the same logic. According to «Cyprus at a glance», it shows a white dove carrying an olive branch in its beak, inside a copper-coloured shield, with the year of independence, 1960, in white beneath. Two green olive branches frame it. Dove and olive, once again, as symbols of peace.

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And the national anthem?

I haven’t found a description of the anthem in the official sources I can cite, so I’d rather not state anything about it. Nor do I describe the flags used in the north of the island, for the same reason. What is documented about that part of the island, in the words of the UN, the EU and the UK government, is in is Cyprus part of Greece.

Where you’ll see it

On official buildings across the Republic, nearly always next to the blue flag of the European Union, which Cyprus joined on 1 May 2004. That’s the scene in the photo on this page, taken above Nicosia.

The day you’ll see most flags is 1 October, Independence Day, even though independence was proclaimed on 16 August 1960. It’s the day of the parade, and the white flag with its copper map is everywhere. More in Cyprus Independence Day. And for the bigger picture, see the history of Cyprus.

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