Flag of Northern Cyprus
Template:Short description Template:Infobox flag
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The flag of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (Template:Langx) is the national flag of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and which is based on the flag of Turkey, with the colors reversed and two additional horizontal red stripes at the top and bottom. The flag was drawn by the Turkish Cypriot artist Emin Çizenel. It was adopted in 1984 by Northern Cyprus, a self-declared state that is recognized only by Turkey, after its unilateral declaration of independence in 1983.
Although there is no official statement on the meaning of the flag, it can be interpreted as the star and crescent meaning Turkishness, the red color representing the blood of the Turkish Cypriots, and the stripes indicating Turkey (top) and Northern Cyprus (bottom). Before the current flag, the flag of Turkey was used.
The country's flag is officially determined by its law, and it has several other laws that specify where and when the flag should be flown and also laws against insulting or burning of the flag. It can also be flown at half-mast, commonly to commemorate Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founding father and first President of Turkey, but also in case if the premiership issues an order to do so. Several of these laws also apply to the flag of Turkey, which has official status in the country.
On the side of Beşparmaklar Mountain, in the Kyrenia Mountains, there is a wide flag of Northern Cyprus along with a star and crescent and the quotation How happy is the one who says I am a Turk.
Design and symbolism
The flag of Northern Cyprus was defined in Article 2 of the Flag Law of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus under these terms: "The flag of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus has, under the conditions defined by law, a red star and crescent on a white background and two longitudinal lines".<ref name=":4">Template:Cite web</ref>
There aren't any official statements about the meaning of the flag. An interpretation is that the star and crescent represent Turkishness, red representing the blood of Turkish Cypriots killed in Cypriot intercommunal violence, white representing peace, the upper line representing Turkey, the bottom line representing Northern Cyprus and the horizontality of the lines represents that "The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus will last forever".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
In 2019, the flag became the subject of a conspiracy theory falsely<ref name=":6" /> claiming it was designed by Necmettin Erbakan and that the upper line represents the Nile, and the bottom one represents the Euphrates while the star and crescent mean the "land between the Nile and the Euphrates will not be for Zionists as long as Turkey exists".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The theory was based on allegations claiming two blue stripes on the flag of Israel represent the Nile and Euphrates rivers and allege that Israel desires to eventually seize all the land in between.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":6">Template:Cite web</ref>
Dimensions
.svg)
| Letter | Measure | Length |
|---|---|---|
| G | Width | 1 G |
| A | Distance of the centre of the external circle of the crescent from the heading | Template:Frac G |
| B | Diameter of the external circle of the crescent | Template:Frac G |
| C | Distance between the internal and external centres of the crescent | Template:Frac G |
| D | Diameter of the internal circle of the crescent | Template:Frac G |
| E | Distance between the star's circle and the internal circle of the crescent | Template:Frac G |
| F | Diameter of the star's circle | Template:Frac G |
| L | Length | Template:Frac G |
| M | Width of the heading | Template:Frac G |
| N | Width of red stripes | Template:Frac G |
| O | Width of white stripes | Template:Frac G |
Note that the proportions are, except for the added stripes, exactly the same that the Turkish national flag, presumably on purpose.
Color scheme
.svg)
| Error creating thumbnail: Colour scheme |
Red | White |
|---|---|---|
| RGB | 227-10-23 | 255-255-255 |
| Hexadecimal | #E30A17 | #FFFFFF |
| CMYK | 0, 96, 90, 11 | 0, 0, 0, 0 |
History
Previous flags
The Turkish Federated State of Cyprus was formed on 13 February 1975 and existed until 15 October 1983, when the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus was established.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> TFSC didn't mention a flag in its constitution.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
3 days after the declaration of independence of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, a self-declared state that is recognized only by Turkey,<ref>Council of Europe/Conseil de l'Europe, (1996), Yearbook of the European Convention on Human Rights / Annuaire de la convention européenne des droits de l'homme, p. 153
Template:Blockquote</ref> on 18 November 1983, the Council of Ministers of Northern Cyprus discussed the flag of the new state. It was decided to use the flag of Cyprus with the flag of Turkey placed in the canton (upper left).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> However, the design was never used. According to an article in the Flag Bulletin, for the first four months of its existence, the flag of Turkey was used as the official flag of Northern Cyprus.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref>
Current flag
On 23 November 1983, the government officially called for a new flag for the country and asked for flag suggestions from all citizens, establishments and foundations being 3 December 1983 the deadline.<ref name=":1" /> The design drawn by Turkish Cypriot artist Emin Çizenel<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> was accepted and it was officially adopted as the flag of Northern Cyprus on 7 March 1984 by Law No.15 of constitution of Northern Cyprus.<ref name=":3">Template:Cite web</ref> Flag Law of Northern Cyprus was adopted the same day.<ref name=":4" /> The Official Gazette published the flag on 9 March 1984.<ref name=":3" /> Even though there wasn't a promised prize, on 9 March 1984 Emin Çizenel received the award of TL100,000, which was the same amount given to Mehmet Akif Ersoy for writing İstiklal Marşı (national anthem of Turkey and Northern Cyprus<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>) in 1921.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":2">Template:Cite web</ref>
Proposed national flag
The Annan Plan was a United Nations proposal to restructure the Republic of Cyprus as a federation of two states under the name of "United Republic of Cyprus" to settle the Cyprus dispute.<ref>Full text of the Annan Plan dated 26 February 2003. Accessed 3 July 2011.</ref> A Spanish fess flag made up of three white fimbriated blue, red and orange-yellow lines were chosen for the federation by a committee of Greek and Turkish Cypriots in early March 2004. The current flag of Northern Cyprus was planned to be used as the flag for the Turkish Cypriot State of the federation.<ref name=":5" />
The blue stripe represented Greeks while the red stripe represented Turks, two major ethnic groups in Cyprus and the orange-yellow stripe represented copper,<ref name=":5" /> from which the island may have received its name.<ref name="Beekes">R. S. P. Beekes, Etymological Dictionary of Greek, Brill, 2009, p. 805 (s.v. "Κύπρος").</ref> The meaning of white fimbriation wasn't officially stated but an interpretation is that it represented peace between the two communities.<ref name=":5" />
In a 2004 referendum, the plan was accepted by 65% of Turkish Cypriots but 76% of Greek Cypriots opposed it, therefore the plan was not put into place.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
List
| Flag | Date | Use | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| File:Flag of Turkey.svg | 1974–1984 | De facto flag of Northern Cyprus | Flag of Turkey used during the invasion and then by the Turkish Federated State of Cyprus and Northern Cyprus until 7 March 1984. |
| Error creating thumbnail: | 1984–present | Flag of Northern Cyprus | Current flag of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus |
Protocol
Article 2 of the Constitution of Northern Cyprus states that the flag of the country is prescribed by law.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> According to Article 3 of the Flag Law of Northern Cyprus, "The flag of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus shall be flown from buildings occupied by the Security Forces, by Government Departments, from the premises of public institutions and establishments, from the premises of the people's representatives abroad and vessels owned by persons and corporate bodies and it shall be displayed on motor cars, in and outside the country, of persons authorized by regulations to display the flag on their motor cars".<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":3" />
Outlawed actions
Article 10 of the Flag Law of Northern Cyprus outlaws tearing, burning, removing it from its location with a purpose of insult and throwing down flags of both Northern Cyprus and Turkey. The same article also outlaws the insult either "by words, writings, actions or any other manner" of the flag of Northern Cyprus and Turkey. Article 11 punishes such actions with up to 9 years of imprisonment and/or a fine of TL100,000 if they were carried out on purpose.<ref name=":4" />
Half-mast
The flag of Northern Cyprus is flown at half-mast throughout the country every 10 November in memory of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founding father of the Republic of Turkey who died on 10 November 1938. At other times, the premiership may issue an order for the flag to be flown at half-mast.<ref name=":4" /> Notable dates of half-mast in Northern Cyprus include 7 November 2006 due to the death of Bülent Ecevit, Prime Minister of Turkey at the time of the Turkish Invasion of Cyprus,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 14–20 January 2012 due to the death of Rauf Denktaş, founding president of Northern Cyprus,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 15–16 May 2014 due to the Soma mine disaster, 22–24 July 2014 due to the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict, 11–13 October 2015 due to the 2015 Ankara bombings, 29 July 2016 due to the 2016 Atatürk Airport attack<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and 11 December 2016 due to the December 2016 Istanbul bombings.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Kyrenia Mountain Range
A Template:Convert wide North Cypriot flag image was drawn on the side of Beşparmaklar Mountain (Mount Pentadaktylos "Five Fingers" in Greek), in the Kyrenia Mountains, facing south (Template:Coord). The star and crescent, a national emblem of Turkey, and the quotation "Ne mutlu türküm diyene" ("How happy is the one who says I am a Turk"), a motto of Kemalism, is written next to it. Located on the northern side of the green line in the divided capital Nicosia, it is widely visible in the south. An early version was made in the 1980s with stones; now teams from Turkey maintain the coloring with dyes.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Criticism
In 2010, Antigoni Papadopoulou, a Greek Cypriot Member of the European Parliament, submitted an official written question about the mountain flag to the EU Commission. The complaint framed it as an environmental hazard because of the chemical substances employed, and a waste of energy for the thousands of lights used to illuminate it at night. It also described the flag, first lit up on the Greek National Day, 28 October 2003, as an "unprecedented daily provocation" and a "hostile action", and requested that sanctions be imposed on Turkey for its conduct. The commission promised to launch an investigation into the environmental impact but declined to comment on the political aspects.<ref name=tZmn>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
See also
- Flag of Turkey
- Flag of Cyprus
- Flag of Israel
- Coat of arms of Northern Cyprus
- İstiklal Marşı
- Gallery of flags with crescents
References
External links
- Template:FOTW
- TRNC flag law (in Turkish)
Template:Northern Cyprus topics Template:Flag of Europe Template:Asia topic