National Flag Proposals Considered by Parliament, 2008 (Iraq)

Last modified: 2008-01-26 by eugene ipavec
Keywords: star: eight-pointed (green) | disc (yellow) | text: arabic (green) | text: arabic (yellow) | allahu akbar | takbir | triband | iraq | proposal | pan-arab colors | arab colors |
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• "Yellow Takbir" Proposal
• "Eight-Pointed Star" Proposal
• Final Selection

• Evolution of the Iraqi Flag, 1963-2008
• Flag Proposed by Governing Council, 2004
• Iraq: Full Index of All Pages
• Iraq

"Yellow Takbir" Proposal

A news report from AFP news agency reports that the parliament of Iraq will discuss tomorrow a flag bill that proposes to modify the flag of Iraq by formally prescribing that the takbir inscription shall be in Kufic script and that the colour shall be changed to yellow. Furthermore, the symbolism of the stars is to be altered so that in the future they will represent peace, tolerance and justice.

According to the report, parliament will pass a final decision this coming week. If adopted, the flag will be an interim flag for one year after which the flag issue will be discussed again. The proposed change seems to be a step in the direction of appeasing the Kurdish parties that reject the current Iraqi flag because of its association with the Baath Party and the regime of former President Saddam Hussein.

"Eight-Pointed Star" Proposal

On January 12, 2008, Amme Garrels reported from Baghdad for National Public Radio of yet another flag proposal submitted to the Iraqi parliament and designed by Kais al-Jalele. This flag is most likely to be accepted by the Kurdistan Regional Government and the Kurds in general.

Absent are the three stars symbolizing the Baath Party (unity - freedom - socialism) and returned is the traditional Iraqi eight-pointed star (utilized by both the royal government and the revolutionary regime of Gen. Abd Al-Karim Qasim, with the golden circle inside, representing Kurdistan, and flanked by the phrase "Allahu Akbar" in the ornamental Kufic script. The color of that star was red under Qasim, now it appears in green.

As you well know, the present "de-facto" flag with its three "baathists" stars, even with the change in calligraphy, was an absolute no-no in Kurdistan, and not displayed even during the visits by the president of the whole country (a Kurd himself) to the region.

Final Selection

A further news story in the web site of the parliament of Iraq casts some doubt about the progress towards a new or modified flag for the country. Granted, as long as one relies on automated translation, one has to be careful, but the headline of the story spelt out the situation in quite clear terms: "Amendment of the Iraqi flag is a sensation in the Council meeting".

The story goes on to mention that one representative proposed inclusion of some blue element to represent the Turkmen, another proposal was to drop the three stars altogether, while a third was to include instead an eight pointed star. On this last point the translation is not entirely meaningful, however it says the proposal was made by a representative from the Kurdistan Islamic Union, and it seems to fit with the proposal reported by the NPR in the USA (see the post by Chrystian Kretowicz yesterday).

The report ends with some formulations that seems to indicate that the involvement of the President, committees and party blocs in parliament is needed to bring the question further; please have a look at the latter half of this document [in Arabic].