500 Mils Refugee - Silver proof issue

Issued two years after the Turkish military intervention of July 1974, which displaced roughly 200,000 Greek Cypriots from the northern third of the island, this proof was struck explicitly to raise international funds for the refugee crisis. The Central Bank positioned it as a humanitarian appeal in coin form — an unusual mandate for a monetary authority — sold primarily to collectors abroad rather than circulated domestically.

The .925 silver proof version, KM#45a, was struck alongside a base-metal circulation issue, a pairing that underscores the dual purpose: one coin for awareness, one for revenue.