![[Flag of Azerbaijan]](../images/a/az.gif)
Last modified: 2005-10-22 by ivan sache
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National flag of Azerbaijan - Image by Željko Heimer, 8 September 2005
Flag used between 1918 and 1920 (slightly
different) and readopted 5 February
1991, coat of arms adopted 27 February 1993.
Description: Blue, red, green horizontal tricolour with a with
crescent and eight-pointed star in the middle of the red stripe.
Ratio: 1:2
Use: on land, as the civil, state and war flag, at sea,
as the civil, state and naval ensign and naval jack.
Colour approximate specifications (as given in Album des Pavillons [pay00]):
On this page:
See also:
The meaning of the colours of the flag was defined by the nationalist leader Ali Bey Hussein Zade as follows:
Source: P. Lux-Wurm, Les drapeaux de l'Islam [lux01]
Ivan Sache, 21 June 2003
According to Dorling-Kindersley Pocket Book [udk97] the eight-pointed star stands for the eight Turkic peoples of the world, classified as Azeris, Ottomans, Jagatais,Tatars, Kipchaks, Seljuks and Turkomans (only seven!)
This classification dates from pre Soviet times. As far as I could determine after browsing some "Turanist" (pan-Turkic) and ethno-linguistisc sources, the correspondence is as follows:
Azeris: Azeris (aka Azerbaidjanis)
Ottomans: Turkish "proper" (aka Anatolians)
Jagatais (aka Chagatai): Turkmens
Tatars: Tatars
Kipchaks: Kazakhs and Kirghiz
Seljuks (aka Salchuq): Azeris and kin living in
Iran
Turkomans: Turkmenians
This clustering and classification are traditional (the eight-pointed star was on the Azeri flag already in 1918 and probably was created much earlier) and doesn't follow any modern linguistical or anthropological classification of the Turkic peoples.
António Martins, 27 January 2000
The Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan, adopted on 12 November 1995, says:
Article 23. Azerbaijan State Symbols.
1. State symbols of the Azerbaijan Republic shall be: the Azerbaijan Republic Flag, the Azerbaijan Republic Emblem, the Azerbaijan Republic National Anthem.2. The Flag of the Azerbaijan Republic shall consist of three wide stripes. The upper stripe shall be of blue colour, the middle stripe shall be red and the lower one shall be green. There shall be a white crescent and eightpointed star in the middle of the red stripe on both sides of the Flag. The ratio of the width to the length shall be 1 by 2.
3. The design of the Azerbaijan Republic Flag and the Azerbaijan Republic State Emblem, the music and the text of the Azerbaijan Republic National Anthem shall be defined by the Constitutional Law.
Source: Presidency of Azerbaijan
Ivan Sache, 17 June 1999
On 7 June 2004, the Interfax news agency reported:
The Parliament of the Republic of Azerbaijan has adopted during the first week of June, in third and last reading, a new law "On the rules for using the state flag", announced the parliament's press office to the agency Interfax-Azerbaijan.
In the text of law are prescribed the places and institutions where the state flag of Azerbaijan can be put. Moreover are detailed the objects where can be drawn the picture of the state flag. The law prescribed the use of the state flag and the procedure in case of violation or of insult to the legislation of Azerbaijan.
Section 9.2. of the law obviosuly deals with colour specification. Pantone Blue 313C, Red 185C and Green 3405C is mentioned.
Pascal Vagnat & Jan Oskar Engene, 2 March 2005
![[Coat of arms of Azerbaijan]](../images/a/az).gif)
Coat of arms of Azerbaijan - Image by Juan Manuel Gabino Villascan & Ivan Sache, 30 December 1999
The star, also seen in the flag, has the same meaning, the eight
different branches of the Turkish people. This eight-pointed white
star fimbriated in gold, is superimposed on three circles: the inner
one is green, the middle one is red, and the outer one is blue. Those
colors match the flag colours.
Between each star point and over the blue circle, there is one
smaller eight-pointed white star, fimbriated in gold too.
Inside the main central star there is a fire. According to an
etymological dictionary by Guido Gómez Silva (published by the
Fondo de Cultura Económica), this fire recalls the name
of the country: Land of fire or Land of the fire. This
fire also symbolizes freedom.
The shield stands on a golden ear of corn (not shown above).
Juan Manuel Gabino Villascan, 30 December 1999
Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan!
You are the country of heroes!
We will die so that you might be alive!
We will shed our blood to defend you!
Long live your three-coloured banner!
Thousands of people sacrificed their lives
You're become the field of battles.
Every soldier fighting for you,
Has become a hero.
We pray for your prosperity,
We make sacrifice our lives to you
Our sincere love to you,
Comes from the bottom of our hearts.
To defend your honour,
To hoist your banner,
All the young people are ready.
Glorious motherland,
Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan!
Source: Presidency of Azerbaijan
Ivan Sache, 17 June 1999