Flag of Chechnya
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The flag of Chechnya is a rectangle with sides in the ratio 2:3, the same ratio as the flag of the Russian Federation. The flag is composed of three horizontal bars of, from top to bottom: green, representing Islam; white; and red; superimposed on them is a narrow vertical white band at the hoist side, containing the national ornament, a design of four golden scroll shapes.
This flag, introduced in 2004, is primarily used by the government of Chechnya while the independentist flags are commonly used by opposition forces and Chechen people throughout the world.
Contents |
[edit] Historic flags
From 1957 to 1978, the Soviet flag of Chechen-Ingush ASSR was based on the flag of Russian SFSR with the addition of a blue horizontal bar on the right side and the abbreviated name of the republic (НГӀАССР in Chechen and Ingush, and ЧИАССР in Russian).
In 1978, these abbreviated names were replaced with the full versions: ЧЕЧЕНО-ИНГУШСКАЯ АССР in Russian, НОХЧ-ГӀАЛГӀАЙН АССР in Chechen, and НОХЧ-ГӀАЛӀАЙ АССР in Ingush.
[edit] Post Soviet era flags
[edit] Chechen Republic of Ichkeria
Several flags have been used by the supporters of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. The most common of these is the green flag with the red and white stripes depicted on the right. It's proportions are approximately 3:5. The color scheme is green, white, red, white, green, with the upper two thirds of the flag in green and the remaining one third in white, red, white and green stripes of equal width. Another well known example is similar to this flag but has the country's Coat of Arms incorporated into the design. Each color is meant to sympbolize an aspect of the Chechen national character. Green is the color of Islam, red symbolizes the blood shed in the struggle for freedom and white represents the road to a bright future.[1] These flags were mainly used by supporters of Dzhokhar Dudayev, Aslan Maskhadov and their successors. Apart from these several other designs have been used by different factions of the independentist movement, and even single sides used different flags at the same time.
[edit] Loyalist opposition
The pro-Moscow opposition of Dudayev used a flag of similar design with the main difference being the inversion of the red and white stripes and their different width-ratio. Its proportions are reported to be 3:5 and it consists of 5 horizontal stripes: green, red, white, red, and green, the width ratio of which is 4:1:1:1:1.[2] It has not been used since it was replaced by the current flag of the Chechen Republic.
[edit] Caucasus Emirate
In October 2007, Dokka Umarov abolished the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, of which he had been president up until then, in favour of the Caucasus Emirate, which would incorporate most of the Northern Caucasus' territory.[3] A new symbol of this emirate was expected since all old designs are symbols of Chechen nationalism, while Chechnya would only be a province in the Islamic state envisioned by Umarov. The design shown on the right is the one presently used by Kavkaz Center, one of the emirate's official media outlets.[4] Whether or not this flag will officially be adopted by the emirate's leadership remains uncertain. It must however be noted that this flag has been around since the time of Abdul Halim Sadulayev, Umarov's predecessor as president of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria.[5] This and the fact that the design incoroporates elements of the nationalist flag designed under Dudayev's rule has cast doubts on the likeliness of the flag's official adoption.
[edit] References
- ^ Flags of the World: Independentist flag of Chechenia
- ^ Flags of the World: Pro-Russian flag of Chechenia
- ^ Chechenpress; Statement by the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria
- ^ There is only one legitimate authority in Caucasus
- ^ The appeal of president of CHRI Abdul-Halim Sadulaev
