Ottoman Flag
Encyclopedia
Ottoman Dynasty
The Ottoman Dynasty ruled the Ottoman Empire from 1299 to 1922, beginning with Osman I , though the dynasty was not proclaimed until Orhan Bey declared himself sultan...
. Various flags were used within the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
during its existence, and the sultan also used different personal flags on different occasions of state. Due to the complex social and political organisation of the Ottoman Empire, throughout most of its history there was no single proper national flag, until 1844. In 1844, as part of the Tanzimat
Tanzimat
The Tanzimât , meaning reorganization of the Ottoman Empire, was a period of reformation that began in 1839 and ended with the First Constitutional Era in 1876. The Tanzimât reform era was characterized by various attempts to modernize the Ottoman Empire, to secure its territorial integrity against...
reforms, the first official national flag of the Ottoman Empire was adopted. This flag, which had a five-pointed star and crescent, also formed the basis of the present-day flag
Flag of Turkey
The flag of Turkey is a red flag with a white crescent moon and a star in its centre. The flag is called Ayyıldız or Albayrak . The Turkish flag is referred to as Alsancak in the Turkish National Anthem....
of the Republic of Turkey. The crescent moon in the Ottoman Flag was often thicker than its present form (see photo).
Flags from ghazi to emperor (1299-1453)
The early years were a time of the Ottomans defining themselves, a process which did not come to a conclusion until they took ConstantinopleConstantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
in 1453. Osman I
Osman I
Osman I or Othman I or El-Gazi Sultan Osman Ghazi, or Osman Bey or I. Osman, Osman Gazi Han), nicknamed "Kara" for his courage, was the leader of the Ottoman Turks, and the founder of the dynasty that established and ruled the Ottoman Empire...
, a ghazi warlord in Söğüt
Sögüt
Söğüt is a town and district of Bilecik Province in the Marmara region of Turkey. Söğüt has an area of and borders Bilecik to the west, Gölpazarı to the north, İnhisar to the northeast, Eskişehir to the southeast, and Bozüyük to the southwest. The 2000 census put the population at 21,012 citizens,...
and the founder of the Ottoman Empire, was acclaimed the Khan of the Kayıhan in 1299 and it was this title that he bore to his death, establishing the backbone upon which the empire was founded. He inherited this title from his father Ertugrul
Ertugrul
Ertuğrul was the father of Osman I, the founder of the Ottoman Empire. He was the leader of the Kayı clan of the Oghuz Turks...
, who inherited it from his father Suleyman Shah
Suleyman Shah
Suleyman Shah Suleyman Shah Suleyman Shah (Ottoman Turkish: سليمان شاه, Süleyman Şah - Süleyman bin Kaya Alp; (b. ca. 1178 – d. 1236). The son of Kutalmish was father of Ertuğrul, who was, in turn, the father of Osman I, the founder of the Ottoman Empire. His other son was Saru Yatı, the father of...
, who inherited it from his father Kayaalp, this going back to when the Kayihan were a roving tribe of Oghuz
Oghuz Turks
The Turkomen also known as Oghuz Turks were a historical Turkic tribal confederation in Central Asia during the early medieval Turkic expansion....
nomads who inhabited the area surrounding Mount Khan Tengri
Khan Tengri
Khan Tengri is a mountain of the Tian Shan mountain range. It is located on the China—Kyrgyzstan—Kazakhstan border, east of lake Issyk Kul. Its geologic elevation is , but its glacial cap rises to...
.
Osman's grandson Murad I
Murad I
Murad I was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1361 to 1389...
, who bore the level of Roman legitimacy his father could only dream of, ironically reversed his father's policy and forged a completely new identity for the domains, casting off any claim to Roman legitimacy or tribal affiliations and founding the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
. Why red was the perfect colour to say this with, we shall never know. It has no bearing to traditional tribal colours (which were white and gold) or popular Turkic
Turkic peoples
The Turkic peoples are peoples residing in northern, central and western Asia, southern Siberia and northwestern China and parts of eastern Europe. They speak languages belonging to the Turkic language family. They share, to varying degrees, certain cultural traits and historical backgrounds...
colours (usually blue, white and gold). It could be because it was a colour associated with the Romans, and he was not casting off Roman aspirations as totally as we would be led to believe. Red might just have been his favourite colour, like Napoleon and the green stripe on the Italian flag.
Flags of the Sublime Porte (1453-1793)
The original flag changed very little, the gold crescent merely makes its appearance for the first time. By the 18th century this began to be flown as a rectangular as opposed to triangular flag, but remained essentially unchanged. The gold is actual gold-woven silk, and in lieu of this white cloth as opposed to yellow-dyed cloth was used, as not everyone could afford such luxury.The crescent
Crescent
In art and symbolism, a crescent is generally the shape produced when a circular disk has a segment of another circle removed from its edge, so that what remains is a shape enclosed by two circular arcs of different diameters which intersect at two points .In astronomy, a crescent...
was an ancient symbol of Byzantium and Constantinople. In some Turkish clans and kingdoms, the crescent-shaped symbols were used extensively. The crescent was quite popular in Persia, which was the origin of most of the non-Roman Ottoman culture at that point, and it was remarkably similar to the Kayi clan tamgha
Tamgha
A tamga or tamgha "stamp, seal" is an abstract seal or stamp used by Eastern Eurasian nomadic peoples and by cultures influenced by them. The tamga was normally the emblem of a particular tribe, clan or family. They were common among the Scythians, Sarmatians, Alans, all Turkic peoples , and Mongols...
from which Osman was descended and the Khanate of which the Ottoman state emerged. The crescent for the Ottoman Empire therefore was a powerful message as well as an appropriate symbol, binding the past to the future.
With control of Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
and the Bosphorus came new commercial opportunities and new threats from Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
and Genoa
Genoa
Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....
, who feared for their interests and colonies in the Aegean
Aegean Sea
The Aegean Sea[p] is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea located between the southern Balkan and Anatolian peninsulas, i.e., between the mainlands of Greece and Turkey. In the north, it is connected to the Marmara Sea and Black Sea by the Dardanelles and Bosporus...
and Black Sea
Black Sea
The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...
. The Ottomans felt the need for a strong navy and merchant marine, and instituted a number of reforms. These included naval identification flags, including flags signifying command ships, and a set of merchant flags based on religion, each of which was treated differently by the legal system. The naval system also had flags for individual ships and commanders, but those could not be considered to be "Ottoman" flags.
With the conquest of Syria and Egypt, a new Imperial flag was needed. The Sultan was no longer a Roman successor in a mostly Christian land, but the Sultan of Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
and Caliph
Caliph
The Caliph is the head of state in a Caliphate, and the title for the ruler of the Islamic Ummah, an Islamic community ruled by the Shari'ah. It is a transcribed version of the Arabic word which means "successor" or "representative"...
of Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
. So the Byzantine
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
cross was removed, and a disc of the colour
green, the colour of Islam, was placed upon the imperial flag. The many-crescents motif was maintained, but was reduced to three upon the disc, and now represented the three titles and three continents that the house of Osman ruled over: Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
in Africa, the Caliphate
Caliphate
The term caliphate, "dominion of a caliph " , refers to the first system of government established in Islam and represented the political unity of the Muslim Ummah...
in Asia, and Rûm
Rûm
Rûm, also Roum or Rhum , an indefinite term used at different times in the Muslim world to refer to the Balkans and Anatolia generally, and for the Byzantine Empire in particular, for the Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm in Asia Minor, and referring to Greeks living outside of Greece or non-muslims...
in Europe.
After the Tanzimat (1844-1923)
The flag of the Ottoman navy was made red as red was to be the flag of secular institutions and green of religious ones, following the New Order reforms. All religious institutions were "spun off" and while the emperor remained caliph and retained religious roles, the sultanate secularized itself. The navy went through radical modernization reforms, but nothing compared to the army.The army was completely restructured. The janissaries were disbanded and many of them were killed as they resisted modernization. This came of course with a new flag design, without the colour, religious overtones, and excess of the janissaries, and in the style of European armies of the day it was a bicolour flag containing the two, now official, Ottoman colours.
Relation to the flag of the Republic of Turkey
After the fall of the Ottoman Empire in the wake of World War IWorld 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 the foundation of the Republic of Turkey following the Turkish War of Independence
Turkish War of Independence
The Turkish War of Independence was a war of independence waged by Turkish nationalists against the Allies, after the country was partitioned by the Allies following the Ottoman Empire's defeat in World War I...
, the new Turkish state maintained the last flag of 1844 of the Turkish Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
, but introduced proportional standardisations. The flag of Turkey
Flag of Turkey
The flag of Turkey is a red flag with a white crescent moon and a star in its centre. The flag is called Ayyıldız or Albayrak . The Turkish flag is referred to as Alsancak in the Turkish National Anthem....
bears, on a red background, the white crescent moon and a five-pointed star with definite geometrical proportions, established and regulated by the Turkish Flag Law since 1936.
Personal standard of the sultan
| Standard of the Ottoman Sultan. (Late 19th-1923) * Standard of the Sultan. (Each Sultan had his own Tughra Tughra A tughra is a calligraphic monogram, seal or signature of an Ottoman sultan that was affixed to all official documents and correspondence. It was also carved on his seal and stamped on the coins minted during his reign... ) * Version used at sea. |
The imperial banners displayed the sultan
Sultan
Sultan is a title with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic language abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", and "dictatorship", derived from the masdar سلطة , meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be used as the title of certain rulers who...
's tughra
Tughra
A tughra is a calligraphic monogram, seal or signature of an Ottoman sultan that was affixed to all official documents and correspondence. It was also carved on his seal and stamped on the coins minted during his reign...
, often on a pink or bright red background. The religious colour of Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
is green, and many Ottoman flags were dark green (either simple green flags, or bearing the star and crescent in either white or yellow). Many royal banners picture the legendary Zulfikar sword. As of 1862 the flag of the sultan was green with seven thin, red, horizontal lines.
Flag poles
The flagpoles were often decorated by a crescent, a wolfAsena
Asena is the name of one of the ten sons, whom mythical female wolf gave birth to, in old Turkic mythology. It is associated with a Göktürk ethnogenic myth "full of shamanic symbolism"...
's head, a horsetail or a Qur'an
Qur'an
The Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...
box. In addition, banners were always accompanied by a number of smaller flags, pennants, icons and various other items with symbolic meaning (for example, the Janissaries
Janissary
The Janissaries were infantry units that formed the Ottoman sultan's household troops and bodyguards...
used to parade with their cauldrons).