🇦🇿 The colours of Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan’s flag displays blue, red, and green horizontal stripes with a white crescent and eight-pointed star. Blue stands for Turkic heritage, red for progress and modern statehood, and green for Islam. These colours reflect the country’s history and cultural identity.

Where no official value is given, the swatch shows the colour family, not the exact shade.

• The flag’s blue, red, and green stripes are all the same width.
• A white crescent and eight-pointed star sit in the centre of the flag.
• Blue stands for Turkic heritage, red for progress, green for Islam.
• The flag’s proportions are 1:2 (height to length).
• Desecrating the flag is a criminal offence in Azerbaijan.

The colours of the flag of Azerbaijan

The Azerbaijani flag is made up of three horizontal stripes of equal width: blue at the top, red in the middle, and green at the bottom. In the centre of the red stripe sits a white crescent and an eight-pointed star. Officially, blue symbolises Azerbaijan’s Turkic roots, red stands for progress and the development of democracy, and green represents Islam. The crescent and star are widely seen as Islamic symbols, though the eight points of the star have also been linked to the eight Turkic peoples or the eight letters in 'Azerbaijan' in Arabic script.

How the colours were chosen of Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan’s first flag in 1918 was red with a white crescent and eight-pointed star, inspired by the Ottoman flag. This was soon changed to the current tricolour to reflect Turkic identity, Islam, and a drive for modernisation. The tricolour was used until 1920, then banned under Soviet rule, when various Soviet-style flags were used. The tricolour returned in 1990 in Nakhchivan and was adopted nationally in 1991 after independence. Its symbolism and design have remained consistent since then.

Official shades and rules of Azerbaijan

The flag’s design is set in the constitution and detailed in law. It must be twice as long as it is tall, with each stripe covering a third of the height. The star and crescent are centred on the red stripe, with precise proportions for their size and placement. Official colour specifications were updated in 2013 and 2018. The flag’s use is regulated by law, and desecration is a criminal offence.