Azerbaijan Flag

On February 5, 1991, after Azerbaijan regained its independence, the tricolor banner – the national flag of Azerbaijan Republic – flew over the country. On this day, the bright tricolor became the state symbol, which reflects the basic essence of the identity of the people and their self-sufficiency.

People found this flag long before this day. At the beginning of XX-th century, when Azerbaijan withdrew from the patronage of Russian Empire, a new state – Azerbaijan Democratic Republic was created. Its origins were the mental elite of the people with outstanding politicians, scientists, and artists. One of its prominent representatives, Ali-bek Huseyn-zadeh, a philosopher, doctor and artist, became the author of the ADR state flag. The official birthday of the flag was November 9 , 1918 . This date has become an official holiday, Flag Day and is celebrated in the country as a day off.

The author of another state symbol, the ADR anthem, composer Uzeyir Hajibeyov spoke about the creation of a new flag and expressed the concept of the tricolor. According to him, “The meaning of our flag is determined by the blue color — the color of Turkism, green color – the color of Islamism and red color – the color of progress and culture.”

Most of the flags of the numerous nomadic tribes marching to the south and west from the Altai were blue. The tribe of the Oghuz Turks, which mixed with Persians and the tribes of great Caucasian family and became the basis of new Azerbaijani people in those distant times. And blue color of the ancient Turkic banners left its legacy for the future of the country and, thanks to the leadership of ADR, was reflected among the colors of its flag.

Red has always been considered the color of freedom in world culture. Freedom is achieved through struggle, and there is no struggle without blood. However, the creators of flag went deeper in philosophical reasoning about the color red: the only freedom worth fighting is that which will lead the people to development, both cultural and scientific and educational.

The tradition of green color is inspired in Islam by the influence of Koran, the holy book of Muslims. In this book, the benefits of paradise are described in green as a reward for the righteous – they will be dressed in green silks, relaxing on green satin pillows in green paradise gardens. Azerbaijanis are ethnic Muslims and the ideology of many is based on the belief in a reserved green paradise, which is why this color has become one of the foundations of the main symbol of our people.

Another Islamic attribute is represented on our flag – a crescent with a star. This symbol is also directly related to the Turks, since it came to Islamic culture from the Ottoman culture. The difference is in the star. The Azerbaijani one is eight-pointed and scientists disagree about its origin and interpretation of symbolism. The main versions of the origin are eight main Turkic subethnoses and eight letters of Arabic spelling of the word “Azerbaijan”. The influence of Sufism is also taken into attention: the eight-pointed star of the dervishes indicates the direction to the eight cardinal directions in which the Truth spreads. But despite the lack of a common opinion, it can be said that all three versions of the eight-pointed star symbol are characteristic of Azerbaijan culture and history.

Azerbaijan flag once towered above all others in the world (in a geometric sense). From September 2010 to February 2019, a banner the size of a football field fluttered on the highest flagpole in the world. However, after the hurricane, the flag was dismantled and now work is underway to strengthen the foundation on the Flag Square.

The colors of Azerbaijan Travel International travel company logo are the tricolor of our flag.

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Tags: Azerbaijan , Azerbaijan Flag , Russian Empire , Uzeyir Hajibeyov , ADR , Ali bek , Huseyn zadeh , Turkism , Oghuz Turks , Ottoman culture , Sufism