Flag of Kazakhstan
 | |
| Қазақстан Республикасының мемлекеттік туы Qazaqstan Respublikasynyñ memlekettık tuy Флаг Республики Казахстан Flag Respubliki Kazakhstan | |
| Use | National flag and civil ensign |
|---|---|
| Proportion | 1:2 |
| Adopted | 4 June 1992 |
| Design | A gold sun with 32 rays above a soaring golden steppe eagle, both centered on a cyan field. The hoist side displays a national ornamental pattern "koshkar-muiz" |
| Designed by | Shaken Niyazbekov |
 | |
| Use | Naval ensign |
| Proportion | 1:2 |
| Design | The eagle and sun from the national flag, both centered on a bicolour of white and cyan. In the canton is a blue anchor with a red star over it. |
The flag of Kazakhstan or Kazakh flag (Kazakh: Қазақстан туы, Qazaqstan tuy; Russian: Флаг Казахстана, romanized: Flag Kazakhstana) was adopted on 4 June 1992, replacing the flag of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic. The flag was designed by Shaken Niyazbekov.
Description
The national flag of the Republic of Kazakhstan has a gold sun with 32 rays above a soaring golden steppe eagle, both centered on a sky blue background; the hoist side displays a national ornamental pattern called "koshkar-muiz" (the horns of the ram) in gold; the blue colour is of religious significance to the Turkic peoples of the country, and so symbolises cultural and ethnic unity; it also represents the endless sky as well as water; the sun, a source of life and energy, exemplifies wealth and plenitude; the sun's rays are shaped like grain, which is the basis of abundance and prosperity; the eagle has appeared on the flags of Kazakh tribes for centuries and represents freedom, power, and the flight to the future. The width of the flag to its length is 1:2.[1]
| Model | Blue | Gold |
|---|---|---|
| Pantone | 3125U | 102U |
| RGB(Hex) | 0-171-194
(#00ABC2) |
255-236-45
(#FFEC2D) |
| CMYK | 94 % — 0% — 19% — 0% | 0 % — 0% — 100% — 0% |
Symbolism
The gold and blue colours were inherited from the former Soviet flag which were the gold from the hammer and sickle and the cyan bar from the bottom of the flag. The pattern represents the art and cultural traditions of the old Khanate and the Kazakh people. The sky blue background symbolises the peace, freedom, cultural, and ethnic unity of Kazakh people including the various Turkic people that make up the present-day population such as the Kazakhs, Tatars, Uyghurs, Uzbeks, as well as the significant Indo-European peoples. The sun represents a source of life and energy. It is also a symbol of wealth and abundance; the sun's rays are a symbol of the steppe's grain which is the basis of abundance and prosperity.
People of different Kazakh tribes had the golden eagle on their flags for centuries. The eagle symbolises the power of the state. For the modern nation of Kazakhstan the eagle is a symbol of independence, freedom and flight to the future.[2]
History
Kazakh Khanate
The Kazakh Khanate was decentralized state without an agreed upon flag. There is an alleged blue flag with white endless knot and three white 5-pointed stars in the hoist side of the flag.
The depicted flag sometimes is considered to not be connected to Khanate. The ornament shown in the flag isn't observed by any other Turkic countries, moreover it is an endless knot, which takes part in Buddhist and Hinduist cultures, while Kazakhs were mostly Muslims.
Although the ornament is considered to not be Kazakh, it still takes part in Kazakh culture. Some historians say that the ornament could get to Kazakhs by trading with Chinese, Oirats, or Dzungars, since ancient Turks and Chinese maintained close relationships.[3]
Russian Empire
In 1882, the Kazakh Khanate was disestablished when Russia invaded the Kazakh Steppe. Kazakh lands were divided in provinces and all of them used the flag of Russian Empire.
Central Asian Revolt
In 1916, Russia required Muslim people of central Asia to join Russian military forces. Russian colonial regime and economic instability lead to the Central Asian Revolt. Amongst Kazakhs, Amangeldy Imanov was leading figure in the revolts. He and his associated used red flag with the yellow text; blue half-moon in the top-left; blue bow, spear and an axe crossed on red background.
The text on the flag is in Arabic script, since Kazakh's writing system was Arabic prior to 1929. The text on the flag says: "Flag of warrior leader, Amangeldy batyr" (Batyr means hero in Kazakh).
Alash Autonomy
During World War I, Russia was exhausted as it wasn't ready for war. This was the reason for the food shortages, which occurred even in major cities like Petrograd. First revolution, started because of an economic instability led to the Russian ministers in charge of Central Asia to create the Alash party and found their own autonomy on territory of modern Kazakhstan.
Alasb state again lacked one agreed flag, however the Autonomy had their proposed flags. Alikhan Bukeikhanov and Barlybek Syrtanov proposed the flag with green, yellow, red stripes and white crescent with yellow star in top-left.[4] The direction of stripes is not mentioned. Sometimes people use the logo of Kazak, the journal published by members of Alash, as a flag of the Autonomy. This variant of flag depicts a yellow yurt on a white background.
The most commonly used flag of the Alash Autonomy is yellow crescent with star on a red background, however there is no evidence that flag was ever used.
-
Alash Autonomy from 1917 to 1920 -
Second variant -
Flag of the Alash Autonomy, which is mentioned in 1918 -
Flag presented by Professor Trembitsky, no confirmation of use, the sources he used are unknown
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Soviet Kazakhstan
After the victory of the Bolsheviks in the Russian Civil War, The Soviets consolidated Alash into the newly forming Kazakh Autonomy, resulting in the establishment of the Kazakh Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic in 1920.
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The flag of Kazakh ASSR consisted of two yellow texts in the top-left side of the flag, surrounded with yellow line. The texts spelt KSSR, which means Kazakh SSR and R.F. meaning Russian Federation, or, to be more specific, Russian SFSR.
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Until 1937 Kazakhstan was a part of the Russian Federation, until the government established the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic within the Union, and, subsequently, changed its flag. The flag has hammer and sickle on the top-left and name of the republic in two languages: Kazakh and Russian under it. Kazakh name was written in Latin, as writing system of Kazakh changed in 1929 from Arabic to Latin.
The finale change of flag of Kazakh SSR happened in 1953, as all other Soviet republics redesigned their flags. The flag consists of a hammer and a sickle with a star on it and a light blue horizontal stripe on red background. The flag was briefly used after Kazakhstan gaining its independence in December 1991.
Republic of Kazakhstan
Unlike other post-Soviet nations, like Georgia, Belarus or Ukraine, Kazakhstan didn't have its own flag before being joined to Soviet Union. That's why Kazakhstan kept its Soviet flag up until 4 June 1992.
Government of Kazakhstan decided to organize a contest, which had these proposed flags:
-
Proposed Flag depicting yellow circle with 8-pointed star in it, on blue background. -
Flag with green, yellow and blue vertical stripes -
Flag with yellow, blue and red horizontal stripes and yellow crescent with stars -
Flag depicting two squares with yellow outline forming 8-pointed star on a blue background. -
Flag depicting Shanyraq (The top of yurts) with crescent in center and sun in the top-left -
Flag with blue, white, green stripes and crescent with stars, which have a picture of wolf in it.
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The designer of the current flag, Shaken Niyazbekov, had originally colored the ornament red. This was changed in July 1992 to the current shade of gold.
Variants
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Flag for the Kazakh armed forces, featuring a red star -
Presidential standard, featuring the national emblem
Gallery
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Alexander Vinokurov during the Men's cycling event at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London donning the Kazakh flags on rims. -
The Kazakh flag at Embassy of Kazakhstan in Moscow. -
T-72 tank in the national colours. -
A crowd with the flag of Kazakhstan. -
A flag of Kazakhstan flying. -
Spectators with the Kazakh flag. -
The flag of Kazakhstan hanging at the Kazakh Embassy in Stockholm. -
Kazakh contingent during the 2015 Moscow Victory Day Parade with the national flag. -
The national flag hanging vertically.
See also
References
- ^ CIA – The World Fact Book Archived 9 August 2010 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Kazakhstan national flag
- ^ Davlenov, Eltai (2021). "What was Flag of Kazakh Khanate like?".
- ^ "Каким был государственный флаг Автономии Алаш?". e-history.kz (in Russian). Retrieved 25 May 2022.
- ^ Kazakhstan in the Soviet Union (early flags)
- ^ Флаги Советского Казахстана
External links
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