1 Pound Refugee Commemorative

Issued two years after the Turkish military intervention of July–August 1974, which displaced an estimated 160,000–200,000 Greek Cypriots from the north of the island, this coin was struck specifically to draw international attention to the ongoing refugee crisis. The funds and awareness generated by commemorative issues of this type were part of a broader Cypriot government effort to keep the displacement politically visible at a time when resettlement negotiations had stalled entirely.

KM#46a denotes the silver version; a copper-nickel circulation strike (KM#46) was issued simultaneously.