If you prefer to think of Nicosia as being in Europe you can set TZ="Europe/Nicosia", which is equivalent to setting TZ="Asia/Nicosia". This is covered in the 'asia' file, which says: # Classically, Cyprus belongs to Asia; e.g. see Herodotus, Histories, I.72. # However, for various reasons many users expect to find it under Europe. Link Asia/Nicosia Europe/Nicosia