Current flag of Iraq with stylized Kufic script.

The flag of Iraq (Arabic: علم العراق) has had four different designs since the establishment of Iraq in 1921. While the current situation is not entirely clear, the version in use at present is a minor variation of the design adopted under the Saddam Hussein government in 1991. Image File history File links Flag_of_Iraq. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Iraq. ... Surah Al-Baqarah written in Kufic form. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Image File history File links IFIS_Sinister. ... Arabic ( or just ) is the largest living member of the Semitic language family in terms of speakers. ... Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti (28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was the fifth President of Iraq and Chairman of the Iraqi Revolutionary Command Council from 1979 until his overthrow by US forces in 2003. ...

A new national flag was proposed in April 2004 but was never adopted. At the ceremony on 28 June 2004 when the new interim government of Iraq was sworn into office, the stage was backed with a row of flags similar to the 1991 pattern, but wider, with the stars and the Arabic script more loosely spread across the width of the flag. The Arabic text (reading "Allahu Akbar") was also more stylized, in the Arabic Kufic script, unlike the previous text which had been loose handwriting, supposedly that of Saddam Hussein himself. This flag was raised at the Iraqi embassy in Washington, D.C. on 30 June 2004.^[1] The Dannebrog, national flag of Denmark, is the oldest state flag still in use. ... is the 179th day of the year (180th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Politics of Iraq includes the social relations involving authority or power in Iraq. ... It has been suggested that the section intro from the article Civil flag be merged into this article or section. ... Arabic ( or just ) is the largest living member of the Semitic language family in terms of speakers. ... This article is about Islamic religious phrase God is most great. For other usages, see Allahu Akbar (disambiguation). ... Drawing of an inscription of Basmala in Kufic script, 9th century. ... is the 181st day of the year (182nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

Note that, as with other flags containing Arabic script, the flag is displayed with the hoist side on the right, not the left. The Arabic alphabet is the script used for writing the Arabic language, which is the language of the Quran, the holy book of Islam. ... The design and description of flags typically uses specialised flag terminology with precise and technical meanings, and is hence a form of jargon. ...

History of the Iraqi flag

1921–1959

1921-1959 (ratio: 1:2)

The original flag of Iraq was adopted in 1921, when the country was formed. It was a black-white-green horizontal tricolour, with a red trapezoid (some variants have a triangle) extending from the mast side. Two seven-point white stars on the triangle denoted the then 14 provinces of the kingdom. The colours chosen for the new flag were those of the Hashemite leaders of the Arab Revolt who provided the country with its first king, and thus it is very similar to the Flag of Jordan, another Hashemite Kingdom (this flag is also used by the monarchists in Iraq). Image File history File links Flag_of_Iraq_1924. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Iraq_1924. ... Image File history File links FIAV_historical. ... Hashemite is the Anglicised version of the Arabic: هاشمي (transliteration: Hashemi) and traditionally refers to those belonging to the Banu Hashim, or clan of Hashem, a clan within the larger Quraish tribe. ... Combatants Hashemite Arabs Great Britain Ottoman Empire Commanders Faisal T.E. Lawrence Ahmed Djemal Strength 5,000 (?) 25,000 (?) This article is about the Arab Revolt of 1916. ... Flag ratio: 1:2 The national flag of Jordan is based on the flag of the Arab revolt against the Ottoman Empire during World War I. The flag consists of three horizontal bands (black, white and green) that are all connected by a red triangle on the left edge. ...

1959–1963

1959-1963 (ratio: 1:2)

Following Abdul Karim Qassim's 1958 revolution that deposed the monarchy, on July 14, 1959 Iraq adopted (Law 102 of 1959) a new flag that consisted black-white-green vertical tricolour with, in the middle of the white band, a red eight-pointed star with a yellow circle in its centre. The black and green represented pan-Arabism, the yellow sun representing the Kurdish minority, while the red star represented the Assyrian minority. Image File history File links Flag_of_Iraq_1959-1963. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Iraq_1959-1963. ... Image File history File links FIAV_historical. ... Abdul Karim Qassim (Arabic: ‎; also various other spellings; including Kassem, Quasim; popularly known as az-Za‘īm (Arabic: الزعيم) the leader) (1914 – February 9, 1963), was an Iraqi military officer involved in the 1958 military coup détat. ... is the 195th day of the year (196th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1959 (MCMLIX) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Pan-Arabism is a movement for unification among the Arab peoples and nations of the Middle East. ... Languages Kurdish Religions Predominantly Sunni Muslim also some Shia, Yazidism, Yarsan, Judaism, Christianity Related ethnic groups other Iranian peoples (Talysh Baluch Gilak Bakhtiari Persians) The Kurds are an ethnic group who consider themselves to be indigenous to a region often referred to as Kurdistan, an area which includes adjacent parts... Languages Aramaic Religions Christianity Related ethnic groups other Semitic peoples The Assyrians (also called Syriacs or Aramaeans[11]) are an ethnic group whose origins lie in what is today Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria, but many of whom have migrated to the Caucasus, North America and Western Europe during the...

This version of the Iraqi national flag is currently allowed to be flown in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, while the later versions of the Iraqi flag (with their Ba`thist and Pan-Arab associations) are not.^[2][3] The Kurdistan Region (Kurdish: حكومه تى هه ريمى كوردستان, Hikûmetî Herêmî Kurdistan, Arabic: اقلیم کردستان) is an autonomous, federally recognized political entity located in northern Iraq. ...

1963–1991

1963-1991 (ratio: 2:3)

After the Qassim government was overthrown, a new flag was adopted on 31 July 1963 (Law 28 of 1963). The new flag had three stripes, of red, white, and black, with three green stars in the white stripe. The green stars were originally placed there for the proposed union with Egypt and Syria (United Arab Republic), which both had flags with two stars in the middle at the time. They would have changed to three if the Union had not fallen apart. Image File history File links Flag_of_Iraq_(1963-1991). ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Iraq_(1963-1991). ... Image File history File links FIAV_historical. ... is the 212th day of the year (213th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

1991–2004

1991–2004 (ratio: 2:3)

On 13 January 1991, the flag was changed again. The meaning of the three stars was changed from their original geographic meaning to representations of the three tenets of the Ba'ath party motto, Wahda, Hurriyah, Ishtirakiyah (Unity, Freedom, Socialism). Saddam Hussein decreed to place the words, Allahu Akbar (God is Great) between the stars. It is said (though unconfirmed) that the words on the flag are in Saddam's own handwriting, and many interpreted the change as an attempt to garner support from the Islamic world in the period immediately preceding the first Gulf War. Since 2004, the flag was replaced with a similar flag with stylized Kufic script, instead of handwriting. Image File history File links Flag_of_Iraq,_1991-2004. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Iraq,_1991-2004. ... Image File history File links FIAV_historical. ... January 13 is the 13th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the 1991 Gregorian calendar). ... Bath Party flag The Arab Socialist Bath Party (also spelled Baath or Baath; Arabic: حزب البعث العربي الاشتراكي) was founded in 1945 as a radical, left-wing, secular Arab nationalist political party. ... Combatants United States Saudi Arabia & US-led Coalition Republic of Iraq Commanders Norman Schwarzkopf Saddam Hussein Strength 883,863 360,000 Casualties 240 killed in action, 776 wounded in action, 30 taken prisoner Est. ...

2004 flag controversy

Proposed flag, 2004 (later abandoned)

On 26 April 2004 the Iraqi Governing Council announced a new flag for post-Saddam Iraq. The occupied government stated that from around 30 competing entries, it had chosen a design by the distinguished Iraqi artist-cum-architect Rifat al-Chaderchi (aka Rifat Chadirji) who lives in London and is a brother of a member of the former IGC. Image File history File links Proposed_flag_of_Iraq. ... Image File history File links Proposed_flag_of_Iraq. ... Image File history File links FIAV_historical. ... is the 116th day of the year (117th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... The Iraqi Governing Council. ... The Dannebrog, national flag of Denmark, is the oldest state flag still in use. ...

The flag was white, with parallel blue-yellow-blue bands across the bottom quarter or third; the blue bands represented the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers, and the yellow represented Iraq's Kurdish minority (the reason for this symbolism was unclear, but the flag of Kurdistan does feature a yellow sun). In the middle of the white field was a large Islamic crescent which was, unusually, depicted in a shade of blue. The Tigris is the eastern member of the pair of great rivers that define Mesopotamia, along with the Euphrates, which flows from the mountains of Anatolia through Iraq. ... Surfer Rosa The Euphrates (IPA: /juːˈfreɪtiːz/; Greek: Euphrátēs; Akkadian: Pu-rat-tu; Hebrew: פְּרָת Pĕrāth; Syriac: Prâth; Arabic: الفرات Al-Furāt; Turkish: Fırat; Kurdish: فرهات, Firhat, Ferhat, Azeri: Fərat) is the western of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia (the other... Kurds are one of the Iranian peoples and speak Kurdish, a north-Western Iranian language related to Persian. ... The Flag of Kurdistan The flag used as the flag of Kurdistan first appeared during the Kurdish struggle for independence from the Ottoman Empire. ... For people named Islam, see Islam (name). ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

To better understand the controversy, compare the flags of Iraq's neighbours, Iraq's older flags, and the proposed flag.

The design marked a notable break with the colours used in other Arab flags, which have lengthy histories – green and black are used to represent Islam and red is used to represent Arab nationalism. Islamic crescents are usually depicted in green or red in Arab heraldry. The new flag's predominantly blue-on-white appearance immediately led to controversy in Iraq because of its resemblance to the flag of Israel, with whom Iraq has had considerable antagonism (in addition, a number of the original proposals for the Israeli flag included yellow). Other critics lamented the omission of the traditional colours of Pan-Arabism and the omission of the phrase Allahu Akbar, irrespective of who put it there. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (370x654, 26 KB)My revision of User:AndreyFs Flags of the Middle East illustration File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (370x654, 26 KB)My revision of User:AndreyFs Flags of the Middle East illustration File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... An Arab (Arabic: ) is a member of a complexly defined ethnic group who identifies as such on the basis of one or more of either genealogical, political, or linguistic grounds. ... For people named Islam, see Islam (name). ... Arab nationalism refers to a common nationalist ideology in wider Arab world. ... The flag of Israel was adopted on October 28, 1948, five months after the countrys establishment. ... Pan-Arabism is a movement for unification among the Arab peoples and nations of the Middle East. ...

Questions were also asked about Chadirji. He is the younger brother of Interim Governing Council member Naseer al-Chaderchi and, as a result, his victory in the design competition was tainted by accusations of nepotism; in his defence, Chadirji stated that he knew nothing about the plans for a new flag before receiving a telephone call from his brother inviting him to design one, and that the fact that a competition was involved was not mentioned. Additionally, because Chadirji had been living in London since the early 1980s, it was easier for his critics to accuse him of failing to capture current national sentiment in Iraq. Naseer Kamel al-Chaderchi was a member of the Interim Iraq Governing Council, created following the United Statess 2003 invasion of Iraq. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ...

The new flag was reported to have been burned by insurgents in Fallujah on 27 April 2004, the day before its planned official adoption. Burning the Flag of the United States Flag desecration is a blanket term applied to various acts that intentionally deface a flag, most often a national flag (though other flags can be defaced as well). ... This article is about the city of Fallujah in Iraq. ... April 27 is the 117th day of the year (118th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 248 days remaining. ...

On 28 April 2004 Governing Council President Massoud Barzani formally presented a modified version of the flag in which the originally very light shade of blue as reported by the press on 26 April 2004 had been changed to a darker tone; it was unclear whether this was a change made because of the protests made against the original design or, as the Council claimed, a rectification of printing errors in the earlier news reports. He also explained that the flag was a temporary design, to be used over the ensuing months until the adoption of a definitive flag. is the 118th day of the year (119th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Massoud Barzani Massoud Barzani (born August 16, 1946) is the head of the Autonomous Kurdish Government in Iraq and leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party. ... is the 116th day of the year (117th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

In the face of the controversy, adoption of the blue crescent flag was abandoned. At the handover ceremony on 28 June 2004 a slightly modified version of the 1991 flag was used, retaining the Allahu akbar but with a stylized script replacing the handwriting.^[4]
is the 179th day of the year (180th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

See also

• Assyrian flag
• Kurdish flag

The Assyrian flag consists of a golden circle at the center which represents the sun. ... The official flag of Iraqi Kurdistan, & ethnic flag of Kurdish people worldwide The Kurdish flag (also flag of Kurdistan, Kurdish: Alaya Kurdistanê [1]) first appeared during the Kurdish independence movement from the Ottoman Empire. ...

References

1. ^ http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,124329,00.html
2. ^ http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=36213
3. ^ http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=ia&ID=IA29306
4. ^ http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/06/28/iraq.handover/

External links

• Iraq unveils new national flag (BBC)
• Controversial new Iraqi flag unfurled (al-Jazeera)
• New Iraqi flag meets with public disapproval (Washington Post)
• Iraqis unimpressed by flag design (BBC; refers to the sibling relationship between the al-Chaderchis, accusations of nepotism)
• Burning with anger: Iraqis infuriated by new flag that was designed in London (The Independent, reaction of Iraqis, sibling relationship)
• Iraq at Flags of the World

Screenshot of the Flags of the World website Official flag Flags of the World (or FOTW) is the Internets largest website devoted to vexillology, containing comprehensive information about all kinds of flags. ...