The Republic of Cyprus

The National Flag of Cyprus

Cyprus used to be a British protectorate, until it finally gained its independence from Britain back in 1960. The protectorate used a British blue ensign with 2 red lions in the fly.

Upon independence, a new flag was instituted. A gold coloured outline map of the island of Cyprus was placed on a white field over 2 olive branches. The gold represents the copper deposits on the island, and the olive branches symbolise peace between the Turkish and Greek communities. The use of colour was important, as none of the colours on the flag where directly linked with either community on the island.

However, towards the end of 1960, the hollow map of Cyprus was filled in.

Unfortunately, the desire for peace and unity was shattered, when Greek Cypriot military officers wanted to unify the island with Greece, only for Turkey to launch an invasion of the island. The result of this was the partitioning of the island into Greek Cyprus, and the unrecognised Turkish Cyprus. Turkish Cyprus uses a white flag with a red star and crescent, and 2 red bars. It is worth noting though, that apart from Turkey, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus has no international recognition. 

even though Cyprus has entered the EU, it is only the Greek half at the moment. The UN had tried to negotiate a settlement, and had managed to get the Turkish side to agree. Unfortunately, the Greeks did not, and only the Greeks went into the EU, leaving Turkish Cyprus isolated.

The Annan Plan that was supposed to create a new Federal Republic of Cyprus had designed a new flag for a newly unified island. Sharing similarities with the Thai and Costa Rican flag, it was to be a horizontal tricolour. A central golden stripe for Cyprus would be edged with white, and then along the top, representing the Greek community, a blue stripe, and along the bottom, a red stripe representing the Turkish community.

Unfortunately, with the Greek rejection, the sides are still far apart. Though there is hope a deal can be done relatively soon!