Country profile: Cyprus

The Cypriot flag was adopted on 16 August 1960, the day Cyprus, a former British colony, became independent. It was chosen to favour neither the Greek nor the Turkish community of the island, and its design is attributed to İsmet Güney, a Turkish Cypriot art teacher.

It shows a copper-coloured map of the island on a white field, above two crossed green olive branches.

The copper shade was specified in 2006. In practice, the two communities often use the flags of Greece and Turkey, and the north of the island, under Turkish Cypriot administration, has its own flag.

The elements of the Cypriot flag have a clear meaning:

• Copper map: the island of Cyprus, whose name has been associated since antiquity with copper, extracted from its mines.
• Olive branches: peace between the Greek and Turkish communities of the island.
• White field: peace.

The Latin word cuprum, ‘copper’, derives from the name of Cyprus, a major producer of the metal in antiquity.

Cyprus and Kosovo are the only two countries whose national flag shows a map of their territory.

The colours were chosen to avoid both the blue of Greece and the red of Turkey.