Day of Crimean Tatar Flag is celebrated in Ukraine: history and significance
Every year on 26 June, the Day of the Crimean Tatar Flag is celebrated in Ukraine. This is a blue flag with a yellow coat of arms – taraq tamga, which is more than 100 years old.
It symbolises the resistance of the Crimean Tatar people to all those who have ever tried to destroy their culture.
On this day, Ukrainska Pravda.Zhyttia tells about the history of the Crimean Tatar flag, the meaning of the symbols and facts that you might not know.
History of origin
The Crimean Tatar flag was raised for the first time in 1917, immediately after the February Revolution. At the beginning of 1919, the Crimean Tatar Parliamentary Bureau approved the Regulations on the Cultural and National Autonomy of the Muslims of Crimea.
It was in this document that the image of the taraq tamga was recognized as the national emblem, and the flag was a grey-blue cloth with the image of the national emblem in the upper corner. This is the first documentary evidence of the status of the national emblem and flag of the Crimean Tatars in their modern form.
However, due to the Soviet Union’s repression of the Crimean Tatars and the introduction of the communist regime, the flag was not used.
Only in 1991, after the Crimean Tatar people restored their national institution – Kurultai, a resolution was passed on the national flag and anthem of the Crimean Tatar people. A blue cloth together with the Ukrainian flag was flown over Crimea.
"It testifies to the importance of continuity in the life of any people, the path that this people follows," said Refat Chubarov, head of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, during a press conference in Ukrinform on 22 June.
Chubarov added that the Day of the Crimean Tatar flag is celebrated in Ukraine for the 13th year in a row, although until 2014 many did not know what it was.
After the annexation of Crimea, the world spoke even more loudly about the Crimean Tatars, who are being abducted and prosecuted by the Russians.
"As of today, about 80% of political prisoners in Crimea are Crimean Tatars, including the first deputy chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, Nariman Dzhelialov," the Ukrainian president's website says.
Ukraine has officially celebrated the Day of the Crimean Tatar flag since 2010. Traditionally, it is raised near the building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, this year the flag was also raised near the building of the Kyiv Oblast State Administration.
"I have no doubt that we will celebrate the next Crimean Tatar flag holiday in Crimea. There are two sides to such holidays: the external one is pleasant and noticeable, but there is an internal one, which is the task of a state or a symbol of the people, like the Crimean Tatar flag," Refat Chubarov said during the flag raising.
In 2019, the Crimean Tatar flag was raised in 28 countries on 4 continents as part of the United by the flag campaign.
Significance of the Crimean Tatar flag
"To consider the national flag of the Crimean Tatar people a blue cloth with an image of a golden tamga in its upper corner near the shaft – the family coat of arms of the Crimean khans. The ratio of the width of the flag to its length is 1:2", says the resolution of the Kurultai (the Turkic peoples' representative body) about the national symbols of the Crimean Tatar people.
The sky-blue colour among the Turkic peoples is a symbol of purity, freedom, honour, loyalty, flawlessness and power. This colour, called "kök" (light-blue), is associated with purity, boundless sky and sea.
The coat of arms of the Crimean Tatars – taraq tamga – a symbol of state power, which was depicted on seals, coins and documents of the Crimean Khanate, is depicted in yellow in the upper left corner of the flag.
"This day is, first of all, about resistance. The blue flag with a tamga has become a symbol of struggle, dignity and freedom not only for the Crimean Tatars, but also for all free people of the peninsula and Ukraine in general. And this resistance has been going on for nine and a half years in various forms: from the creation of projects in order to preserve own identity to the defence of the country in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine," wrote Alim Aliiev, Deputy Director General of the Ukrainian Institute and co-founder of CrimeaSOS.
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