Assyrian flag
Encyclopedia
Assyrian people
The Assyrian people are a distinct ethnic group whose origins lie in ancient Mesopotamia...
flag is the flag chosen by the Assyrian people
Assyrian people
The Assyrian people are a distinct ethnic group whose origins lie in ancient Mesopotamia...
to represent the Assyrian
Assyrianism
The term Assyrianism refers to Assyrian nationalism which increased in popularity in the late 19th century in a climate of increasing ethnic and religious persecution of the indigenous Assyrians of the Middle East....
nation in the homeland
Assyrian homeland
Assyrian homeland refers to a geographic and cultural region inhabited traditionally by the Assyrian people; who call it Assyria . It is largely coterminous with the Kurdish homeland, including parts of what is now northeast Syria, northern Iraq, northwestern Iran and southeastern Turkey.The area...
and in the diaspora
Assyrian diaspora
The Assyrian/Chaldean/Syriac diaspora refers to the estimated population of Assyrian/Syriac Christians in the world that migrated outside of the Middle East or their original homeland. The worldwide diaspora of Syriac Christian communities begins during World War I, with the mass-killings of...
.
George Bit Atanus first designed the flag in 1968. The Assyrian Universal Alliance
Assyrian Universal Alliance
Assyrian Universal Alliance is an ethnic Assyrian umbrella organization in the Middle East. The Assyrian Universal Alliance is an international alliance made up of different sectors of the Assyrian federations and organisations throughout the world. Mr...
, Assyrian National Federation and Bet-Nahrain Democratic Party
Bet-Nahrain Democratic Party
The Bet-Nahrain Democratic Party is an Assyrian political party in Iraq led by Romeo Nissan Hakkari. One of the party's goals is to create an autonomous Assyrian Administrative Region within Iraq...
all adopted it in 1971.
The flag has a white background with a golden circle at the center, surrounded by a four-pointed star in blue.
Four triple-coloured (red-white-blue), widening, wavy stripes connect the center to the four corners of the flag.
The Bet-Nahrain party added the figure of pre-Christian Assyrian god, Assur known from Iron Age iconography in red above the center.
Symbolism
The golden circle at the center that represents the sunSun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields...
, which, by its exploding and leaping flames, generates heat and light to sustain the earth and all its living things. The four pointed star surrounding the sun symbolizes the land, its light blue
Blue
Blue is a colour, the perception of which is evoked by light having a spectrum dominated by energy with a wavelength of roughly 440–490 nm. It is considered one of the additive primary colours. On the HSV Colour Wheel, the complement of blue is yellow; that is, a colour corresponding to an equal...
color symbolizing tranquility.
The wavy stripes extending from the center to the four corners of the flag represent the three major rivers of the Assyrian homeland
Beth Nahrain
Beth Nahrain is the Syriac name for the region known as Mesopotamia . It refers to the Euphrates and Tigris rivers of Iraq and Syria...
: the Tigris
Tigris
The Tigris River is the eastern member of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of southeastern Turkey through Iraq.-Geography:...
, the Euphrates
Euphrates
The Euphrates is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia...
, and the Great Zab
Great Zab
The Great Zab , , , ) is an approximately long river flowing through Turkey and Iraq. It rises in Turkey near Lake Van and joins the Tigris in Iraq south of Mosul. The drainage basin of the Great Zab covers approximately , and during its course, the rivers collects the water from a large number...
. The lines are small at the center and become wider as they spread out from the circle. The dark blue represents the Euphrates. The red
Red
Red is any of a number of similar colors evoked by light consisting predominantly of the longest wavelengths of light discernible by the human eye, in the wavelength range of roughly 630–740 nm. Longer wavelengths than this are called infrared , and cannot be seen by the naked eye...
stripes, whose blood red hue stands for courage, glory and pride, represent the Tigris. The white
White
White is a color, the perception of which is evoked by light that stimulates all three types of color sensitive cone cells in the human eye in nearly equal amounts and with high brightness compared to the surroundings. A white visual stimulation will be void of hue and grayness.White light can be...
lines in between the two great rivers symbolizes the Great Zab; its white color stands for tranquility and peace. Some interpret the red, white and blue stripes as the highways that will take the scattered Assyrians back to their ancestral homeland. It is also said that when the stripes are reversed with the red stripes on top and the blue stripes on bottom, it symbolizes that the nation is at war.
The archer figure symbolizes the pre-Christian god Assur.
Previous flags
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, the Assyrian flag consisted of 3 layers of salmon, white, and red. On the top left of the first layer, 3 white stars represented the three main Churches of the Assyrian people: Church of the East
Assyrian Church of the East
The Assyrian Church of the East, officially the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East ʻIttā Qaddishtā w-Shlikhāitā Qattoliqi d-Madnĕkhā d-Āturāyē), is a Syriac Church historically centered in Mesopotamia. It is one of the churches that claim continuity with the historical...
, Chaldean Catholic Church
Chaldean Catholic Church
The Chaldean Catholic Church , is an Eastern Syriac particular church of the Catholic Church, maintaining full communion with the Bishop of Rome and the rest of the Catholic Church...
, and Syriac Orthodox Church
Syriac Orthodox Church
The Syriac Orthodox Church; is an autocephalous Oriental Orthodox church based in the Eastern Mediterranean, with members spread throughout the world. The Syriac Orthodox Church claims to derive its origin from one of the first Christian communities, established in Antioch by the Apostle St....
(it is also used by members of the Syriac Catholic Church
Syriac Catholic Church
The Syriac Catholic Church is a Christian church in the Levant having practices and rites in common with the Syriac Orthodox Church. They are one of the Eastern Catholic Churches following the Antiochene rite, the Syriac tradition of Antioch, along with the Maronites and Syro-Malankara Christians...
).
This flag was used during delegation meetings with Assyrian politicians and Western powers during and post World War I. The flag was used until the current design was established. The flag was created by the Syriac Orthodox community of Tur Abdin
Tur Abdin
Tur Abdin is a hilly region of south east Turkey incorporating the eastern half of Mardin Province, and Şırnak Province west of the Tigris, on the border with Syria. The name 'Tur Abdin' is from the Syriac language meaning 'mountain of the servants '. Tur Abdin is of great importance to Syriac...
.
Between 1915 and 1923, the Assyrian army used a flag that resembled the flag of Switzerland
Flag of Switzerland
The flag of Switzerland consists of a red flag with a white cross in the centre. It is one of only two square sovereign-state flags, the other being the flag of the Vatican City...
. It consisted of a red background, indicating the blood spilled by the Assyrians prior to and during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, and a white cross. The top left corner contained a round seal, which was Agha Petros
Agha Petros
Petros Elia of Baz , better known as Agha Petros, was an Assyrian military leader during World War I.- Early years :...
's personal stamp. The seal had his name on it in two languages (Assyrian
Assyrian Neo-Aramaic
Assyrian Neo-Aramaic is a Neo-Aramaic dialect, spoken by an estimated 220,000 people , formerly in the area between Lake Urmia, north-western Iran, and Siirt, south-eastern Turkey, but now more widely throughout the...
and Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
).