Issued to mark the 30th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, this coin appeared just four years after the Turkish military intervention that partitioned Cyprus — a timing that gave the commemorative a sharper political edge than its nominal subject might suggest. The government in Nicosia was by then administering only the southern portion of the island, lending the human rights theme an unmistakable local resonance.
Issued to mark the 30th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, this coin appeared just four years after the Turkish military intervention that partitioned Cyprus — a timing that gave the commemorative a sharper political edge than its nominal subject might suggest. The government in Nicosia was by then administering only the southern portion of the island, lending the human rights theme an unmistakable local resonance.