The staff of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center wholeheartedly congratulates everyone on the Day of the Crimean Tatar flag! This year marks 10 years of this wonderful holiday. Today, the Crimean Tatar flag has become a symbol of the struggle for the Crimea, not only for the Crimean Tatars, but also for Ukraine as a whole. It is a symbol of the invincibility and struggle of the indigenous people for their freedom and rights. And the day is not far off when the Crimean Tatar flag and the state flag of Ukraine will freely and proudly rise above the Ukrainian peninsula. Happy Day of the Crimean Tatar flag!
The flag of the Crimean Tatars is a blue cloth with a golden emblem (tamga) in the upper left corner. Sky blue is the traditional color of the Turkic peoples, which has been used since ancient times on the banners of the Crimean Khanate. It is a symbol of purity and freedom, honesty and fidelity, impeccability and strength.
Tamga is a symbol of power and is literally translated as a signature, a seal. Tarakh (crest) was a symbol of the power of the Crimean Khanate. The emblem was a T-shaped figure depicting one of the variants of the symbol of the House of Giray, the founder dynasty of the Crimean Khanate. In general, tamgas are interpreted in different ways: it resembles a falcon that flies in the sky. There is also a version that this is a scale – a symbol of peace, balance, mutual understanding. This difference in interpretation can be associated with generic images – each family’s tamga in the days of the Crimean Khanate looked different.
In 1917, the Crimean Tatar state flag was approved by the First Qurultay of the Crimean Tatars.
On June 30, 1991, by the decision of the Second Qurultay of the Crimean Tatar people, the flag was recognized as national. In fact, in Crimea, the flag began to revive with its people, because at different times it also succumbed to repression: in 1929, with the advent of the Communists, the blue flag with tamga was declared as being bourgeois-nationalist and banned. In places of deportation after 1944, it was also dangerous to keep the flag. In 1970-80, many Crimean Tatars did not know about the existence of their flag. On May 18, activists secretly hung mourning black flags on high-rise buildings, buildings and poles. Thus, people expressed their protest against the deportation carried out on May 18, 1944 and honored the memory of its victims.
Since 2005, young people have actively shown their desire to know the history and culture of their people. The all-Ukrainian action “Your Country – Ukraine” annually brought together young people. Activists from all over Ukraine gathered and on the day of the national flag of Ukraine climbed to the tops of the Crimean mountains, laid a capsule with an appeal to future generations, set flags of Ukraine and Crimean Tatars, performed anthems of Ukraine and the Crimean Tatar people. The idea of holding the Crimean Tatar Flag Day was voiced by Eskender Bariiev at the School of Young Politician in 2009.
On the initiative of the Crimean Tatar Youth Center and other youth organizations, on June 26, 2010 the Crimean Tatars celebrated the Day of the Crimean Tatar flag for the first time.
On August 29, 2010, at the III session of the V Qurultay of the Crimean Tatar people, a decision was made to celebrate National Flag Day on June 26, the opening day of the II Qurultay.
Today, the flag is not officially banned in the annexed Crimea by Russia, but people are subjected to pressure and repression for using such symbols.