Flag of Republic of Turkey

From Freepedia

The flag of Turkey consists of a white crescent and star on a red background. The flag is called Ay Yıldız (Turkish for 'moon star').

The flag has a complex origin since it is an ancient design, being almost identical to the last flag of the Ottoman Empire.

Red is a prominent color in Turkish history, especially regarding the bloody battles of the Turkish War of Independence. The crescent and star, while generally regarded as Islamic symbols today, have for long been used in Asia Minor, quite before the advent of Islam. The flag was originally simply a crescent on a green field, but this was changed in 1793 when Sultan Selim III changed the background to red. In 1844, the star was added. The star symbol actually dates back to the time of Constantine and it was considered a symbol of Mary in his time.

The shade of red used in the flag is approximated by Pantone 186, or RGB (227, 10, 23).

The flag is described according to various legends in the country, the most popular of which include:

A reflection of the moon occulting a star, appearing in pools of blood after the battle of Kosovo in 1448, led to the adoption of the Turkish flag by Sultan Murad II.[1]
A dream of the first Ottoman Emperor in which a crescent and star appeared from his chest and expanded, presaging the dynasty's seizure of Constantinople.[2]
A crescent and star were spotted on the night of the fall of Constantinople to Mehmet II in 1453.

Construction

Image:Turkey flag const.png

Letter	Measure	Length
G	Width	1
A	Distance between the centre of the outer crescent and the seam of the white band	1/2 G
B	Diameter of the outer circle of the crescent	1/2 G
C	Distance between the centres of the inner and outer circles of the crescent	0.0625 G
D	Diameter of the inner circle of the crescent	0.4 G
E	Distance between the inner circle of the crescent and the circle around the star	1/3 G
F	Diameter of the circle around the star	1/4 G
L	Length	1 ½ G
M	Width of the seam band	1/30 G

Note that the above specification is what is given by Turkey's flag law, according to Flags of the World. The number 1/3 appears to be inaccurate; the other figures imply that distance E is really 0.34875 G.