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The flag of Turkmenistan

The flag of Turkmenistan
A green field with a white crescent and five white stars at the upper hoist, and a vertical red stripe near the hoist containing five carpet guls above two crossed olive branches.
Ratio 2:3 · current design adopted 2001

It is generally reckoned the most intricate national flag in the world: the red stripe reproduces five distinct carpet designs, each a real tribal gul with its own internal geometry, and drawing it correctly at small size is effectively impossible. The olive branches were added in 1997 to mark the country's UN-recognised neutrality, which is itself unique among member states. The current arrangement dates from 2001. Weaving the flag by hand, as some Turkmen carpet workshops do, takes considerably longer than printing any other national flag.

What the colours mean

  • Green #00843D Islam, and the country itself
  • White #FFFFFF The crescent, stars and gul outlines
  • Red #C1272D The carpet stripe

Flag laws usually specify a Pantone chip, a CMYK mix or just a colour name. Converting any of those to sRGB is lossy, which is why published hex values disagree.

The symbols on it

What What it stands for
Five carpet guls The five traditional Turkmen tribes — Teke, Yomut, Saryk, Chowdur and Ersari
Two olive branches The country's declared permanent neutrality, recognised by the UN in 1995
Five stars The five provinces
Ratio
2:3
Current design adopted
2001
Colours
green, white, red

Common questions

What does the flag of Turkmenistan look like?
A green field with a white crescent and five white stars at the upper hoist, and a vertical red stripe near the hoist containing five carpet guls above two crossed olive branches.
What do the colours of the Turkmenistan flag mean?
Green: islam, and the country itself. White: the crescent, stars and gul outlines. Red: the carpet stripe.
When was the Turkmenistan flag adopted?
The current design dates from 2001, and its official ratio is 2:3.

Related pages

Sources

  1. The World Factbook — Central Intelligence Agency (Public domain (US Government))

How these figures are compiled and checked