Flag of Azerbaijan
The flag of Azerbaijan has three horizontal stripes of light blue, red and green, with a white crescent moon and an eight-pointed star in the middle.
At a glance
- Adopted
- February 5, 1991first adopted on 9 November 1918 by the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, banned in Soviet times, and restored in 1991
- Shape (height : width)
- 1:2
- Capital
- Baku
- Colours
- light blue
- red
- green
- white (crescent and star)
What it means
- Blue: the Turkic heritage of the Azerbaijani people
- Red: progress and building a modern, democratic state
- Green: Islam, the main religion
- Crescent: a common symbol of Islam and of Turkic nations
- Eight-pointed star: nobody is sure; one idea is the eight letters of "Azerbaijan" in Arabic script, another is eight Turkic peoples
Where it came from
The flag was first adopted on 9 November 1918 by the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, one of the first democratic republics in the Muslim world. No single designer is known.
Its three colours come from an idea by the writer Ali bey Huseynzade, who said Azerbaijan should "Turkify, Islamize and Europeanize": keep its Turkic roots, its Islamic faith and become a modern European-style state.
History
In 1920 the Soviet Red Army took over and the tricolour was banned. Soviet Azerbaijan used eight different flags. The last one, from 1952, was red like the Soviet flag with a blue band near the bottom.
As the Soviet Union broke apart, Azerbaijan brought back the 1918 tricolour on 5 February 1991. The exact shades were fixed in 2013.
Fun facts
- In 2010 Baku raised the flag on a 162-metre pole, then the tallest flagpole in the world. A pole in Tajikistan beat it a year later.
- Azerbaijan celebrates National Flag Day on 9 November, the day the flag was first adopted.
- The flag is twice as long as it is tall.
- The country's nickname, "Land of Fire", appears as a flame on its coat of arms, not on the flag.
Easy to mix up with
Uzbekistan: Uzbekistan has blue, white and green stripes with a crescent and twelve small stars in the corner
Türkiye: Turkey has a white crescent and star too, but on a plain red background with a five-pointed star
Questions
What does the flag of Azerbaijan look like?
The flag of Azerbaijan has three horizontal stripes of light blue, red and green, with a white crescent moon and an eight-pointed star in the middle.
What do the colours and symbols on the flag of Azerbaijan mean?
Blue: the Turkic heritage of the Azerbaijani people; Red: progress and building a modern, democratic state; Green: Islam, the main religion; Crescent: a common symbol of Islam and of Turkic nations; Eight-pointed star: nobody is sure; one idea is the eight letters of "Azerbaijan" in Arabic script, another is eight Turkic peoples.
When was the flag of Azerbaijan adopted?
The current flag of Azerbaijan was adopted on February 5, 1991. (first adopted on 9 November 1918 by the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, banned in Soviet times, and restored in 1991)
What colours are on the flag of Azerbaijan?
The flag of Azerbaijan uses light blue, red, green and white (crescent and star).
Which flag is easy to mix up with the flag of Azerbaijan?
It is easy to mix up with the flag of Uzbekistan. Uzbekistan has blue, white and green stripes with a crescent and twelve small stars in the corner
Famous landmarks in Azerbaijan
🎯 Play the flag quiz 🌍 Play the globe
Sources
- en.wikipedia.org
- crwflags.com
- Flag picture: flagcdn.com (Wikimedia Commons)