Kyrgyzstan

Republic of Kyrgyzstan, Kyrgyz Respublikasy, Kirghizia

Last modified: 2024-07-06 by victor lomantsov
Keywords: kyrgyzstan | karakirghiz | asia | commonwealth of independent states | yurt | tent | sun | forty | tunduk |
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• Presentation of Kyrgyzstan
• State flag of Kyrgyzstan (since 2023)
• Former state flag of Kyrgyzstan (1992-2023)
• Law on Flag. 1992
• Construction sheet. 1992
• Law on State Symbols. 2004
• Specifications. 2017
• Color specification
• Vertical variant
• Erroneous reported flag 1990-1992

• Presidential standard (flag)
• Government bodies flags
• Armed Forces flags
• Higher education institutions` flags
• Political flags
• Sport flags
• Flags of different commercial organizations
• Regions and cities of Kyrgyzstan
• Discussion on changing the flag of Kyrgyzstan
• Kirgizian SSR (Soviet Union)
• Central Asian Khanates

Full name: Kyrgyz Republic, short name - Kyrgyzstan
Location: Central Asia
Status: Internationally recognized independent state since 31 August 1991. A member of the UN and the CIS.

Notes: In 1924 a Kara-Kirghiz Autonomous Region was set up as part of the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic. (A year later the name 'Kara' [which means 'black'] was dropped.) In 1926 the Region became an ASSR and became a full SSR in 1936. The present name was adopted in 1990, some ten months before independence from the collapsing USSR.
Stuart Notholt 26 September 1995

(26.5.2000) I saw "News" on 1st channel of russian national TV. They said:

Kyrghyzian Parliament today decide to made russian language second STATE LANGUAGE. President A.Akaev confirmed the decision. Parliament adopted new name of the state - Republic of Kirghizia instead of Republic of Kyrghyzstan.

I guess the change applies to both Russian and Kirghiz forms of the name. I reckon in the changes (dropping of "istan" ending and swaping from "y" top "i") the same russifying tendence. Kirghizia, in spite of not having any common border with Russia, was the second most russified central asian republic, second only to Kazakhstan (resp. 21% and 38%, as of 1989 -- Russians in the other three central asian republics didn't reach 10%).
António Martins-Tuválkin, 27 May 2000

The official name of the country is/was "Kyrgyz Respublikasy", neither "-stan", nor "-zia". Probably this means the new name in the new state language, or an imposed translation from Kyrgyz (Russian?) to foreign languages.
Jan Zrzavy, 27 May 2000

I agree with you. This means the new name in the new state language. The state short name ALWAYS was "Kyrghyzstan" in kirghiz language. In Russian it was "Kirghizia" but several last years - "Kyrghyzstan" (recomendation of Kirgh. Government).
Victor Lomantsov, 28 May 2000

by Zachary Harden

According to https://president.kg/, the national flag was modified on 22 December 2023. The design of the sun was modified, along with the central emblem "tunduk", to make the sun more "sun-like" and less "like a sunflower." The change was proposed by Sadyr Japarov, the current President of Kyrgyzstan. The (then draft) law, along with specifications, can be seen at http://kenesh.kg along with some rejected proposals. https://www.rferl.org has some English language comments about the change and the whys.

Additional information came out at https://www.azattyk.org that technical specifications are still in the works, though the draft link I sent earlier has the "latest" specifications and information regarding the flag. Also, the replacement of the national flag would be a gradual process, according to the office of the President of the Republic. The link I share now also has a lot more of the background information regarding the changes this year.
Zachary Harden, 23 December 2023

A bill to change the national flag was proposed by deputies Nurlanbek Shakiev and Ulan Primov 28, November 2023. They suggested making the shape of the sunrays rectilinear. They also proposed to use not three, but four rods in the design of the "tunduk". Parliament (Zhogorku Kenesh) passed the bill in first reading 29, November 2023: 66 deputies voted "yes" and 8 voted "no". For the first reading authors made the draft and specifications, but it had many geometric errors. In November the Cabinet of Ministers criticized the project of specifications and it was removed from the latest edition of the Law.

Then deputies passed the bill in second (58 "yes"/6 "no") and third (59/5) reading on 20, December 2023. The Law was signed by President 22, December 2023.

New flag Law of 2023 have no detailed specification. Description of the flag now is very laconic: “The State flag of the Kyrgyz Republic is made of a rectangular cloth of red color, in the center of which there is an image of a round solar disk with forty evenly diverging straight rays of golden color, with an image of a red Kyrgyz yurt “tundyuk” placed inside the solar disk. The width of the flag is three-fifths of its length”.

Article 3 sais: “Technical specification of the State flag Kyrgyz Republic must be adopted by Cabinet of Ministers”.
Victor Lomantsov, 01 January 2024

The initiative for flag change is not unanimously supported in Kyrgyzstan, which seems to be true for the lawmakers as well as the citizens: https://www.rferl.org.
However, some of the opponents are already facing the consequences: Aftandil Jorobekov, an activist and blogger, was detained after having opposed the proposal and called for protests against it. He is currently awaiting the trial for inciting "mass unrest", facing the possible sentence of up to eight years of prison: ttps://www.hrw.org.
Tomislav Todorovic, 25 December 2023

https://rus.azattyk.org/ shows the new flag design is in effect as of 26 December 2023. The main thing we need to keep an eye out now is the Council of Ministers is supposed to certify and publish new specifications for the flag. From what I could find from the (previously linked) draft law http://kenesh.kg.. is the central yurt element while http://kenesh.kg.. is the flag specification itself.
Zachary Harden, 27 December 2023

The new flag was raised officially on 8 January 2024, with the photos of the ceremony and flag at https://kabar.kg/news.
Zachary Harden, 8 January 2024

by Željko Heimer

A new, post-Communist, flag was not adopted until 1992. It is red, with a circular stylized representation of the roof of a Kyrgyz yurt (tent) in the centre, surrounded by the 40 rays of a golden sun. (Tradition has it that 40 tribes were united by the national hero Manas - who used the colour red on his banner - into the Kyrgyz nation.)
Stuart Notholt, 26 September 1995

State flag adopted by Decision of Supreme Soviet (parliament) of the republic on 3, March, 1992. Red colour symbolizes the boldness, gold sun - peace and riches. Central element ("tunduk") symbolizes the father`s home. 40 rays of the sun symbolize 40 soldiers of Manas, the legendary hero of Kyrgyz literature. Authors of the flag: E.Aydarbekov, B.Zhaychibekov, S.Iptarov, Zh.Mataev, M.Sadykov.
Victor Lomantsov, 12 December 2003

The cross in the center of the sun is the view from "yurt" - national transportable house of Kyrghyz. What I wanted to add is that if to count the rays of the sun, they will total 40. This number is the number of Kyrghyz tribes unified into one state.
Sergey Petrov, 1 February 2003

These tribes were unified, according to Znamierowski, by the national hero Manas. "Kyrgiz" means red, which is logically the national colour. 'Manas' is a popular Kirgyz epic, made of more than 500,000 verses arranged in a trilogy. Some archaic parts of the poem seem to date back to the IX-Xth centuries. They relate the marvelous elements of Manas' life, such as his fabulous birth, his invulnerability, his marriage with Kanykei, his meetings with the wise men Bakai and Kochoi and his blood fraternity with Almamber. However, the central elements of the poem relates the patriotic fight of Manas and his relatives Semetie and Seitek against the invaders of the XVI-XVIIth centuries, portrayed as monsters, giants and wizards in the epic. The poem was orally transmitted from generation to generation by the 'manastchi', and was studied for the first time by the Kazakh folklorist Valikhanov in 1856.
Source: Dictionnaire des Litteratures (Larousse)
Ivan Sache, 3 February - 14 December 2003

Law on Ammendments to the Constitution (Basic Law) of the Republic of Kyrgystan

The Supreme Soviet (Parliament) of the Republic of Kyrgystan determines:
1. Following ammendments shall be introduced into the Constitution (Basic Law) of the Republic of Kyrgystan: replace the article 168 with the new text as follows: "Article 168. The state flag of the Republic of Kyrgystan is a horizontal rectangle of red colour, in center of which is set a circular solar disk with fourty regularly distributed rays of yellow colour. Inside the solar disk is with red colour pictured tyundyuk of a Kyrgyz yurt. The width of the flag is three fifths of its length. The diameter of the ray disk if three fifths of the flag width. Ratio of the diameters of the solar and ray disk - three to five. Diameter of tyundyuk is half the diameter of the ray disk."
2. The resulting Law introduce into validity with the time of signing [by president].

President of the Republic of Kyrgystan
A. Akaev
Bishkek, 3 March 1992.

by Zeljko Heimer

Attached to Law is a sheet titled "Kyrgyz Republikasynyn Mamlekettik Zheleginin Shemalyk Surotu / Shematicheskoe Izobrazhenie Gosudarstvennogo Flaga Respubliki Kyrgyzstan". The first title is in Kyrgyz presumably and showes us a glimps of the vexillologic terminology "Mamlekettik Zheleginin" meaning no doubt 'state flag'.
The sheet showes obverse and reverse of the flag attached on a flagstaff topped with a spearhead ornamented with an ornament that is almost certainly a hammer and sickle (though it may alos be a crescent and star, it is hard to tell!). The sheet showes the dimenstions of the flag overall as 150x250 (the dimensions in originals are tenfold I present here, butthere seems to be no reason for that large numbers), and most probably they are intended to be centimeters (i.e. mm in the original).
The diameter of the virtual circle circumscruibing the sunrays is set as 90, the diameter of the red disk that is touching the rays from the inside is 54, and the yellow disk containing tyundyuk is 45. All of the disks are apparently drawn as centered in the flag middle and there is no hint here of the excentricity of the central disk!

by Željko Heimer

The second sheet of the set does not show any further info, only introduces names to the dimensions: Z - flag width, Y - flag length, D1=3/5 Z - sun rays outer diameter, D2=3/5 D1 sun rays inner diameter, D3=1/2 D1 central disk diameter. (The actual sheet include some obvious errors, D3 is set to 1/2 Z, that certainly can't be as the accopanying numbers confirm, D1 fomula is not quite readable.)

by Željko Heimer

The third sheet include the complicated construction of the tyundyuk. It is captioned "A Kesindisi 1-6 Kesin Disine Proportsiyalash Bolukcholoro Bolunot" which if I am not much mistaken is explanation on the construction of the points 1 though 6.
The sheet showes the red disk circle with diameter D2 (miscaptioned actually as D1) and central disk with diameter D3, excentered upwards so that the distance between the two at the top is B and at the bottom A, with formula B=0.5A. Knowing that D2=54 and D3=45 gives clearly A=6 and B=3. The constuction of the arches is based on a line, let's call it M, that is horizontal on a distance B from the bottom of the central circle. The point D on this line is defined by a vertical tangent to the central circle. t is a central point of the circle forming the lowest arch. The arch passes though the point P that is set as the distance B above the center of the central disk O2 (center of the red disk is named O1). The (upper) interection of this arch with the central circle gives the point Y.
The points D2 though D6 that are the centers of the remaining circles are set on the line M, respectivly towards the center at distances 0.6B, 0.4B, 0.6B, 0.4B and 0.6B (i.e. 1.8, 1.2, 1.8, 1.2 and 1.8). The points Y2 though Y6 are set on a slanted line passing through the points D and Y, proportionally as those D1 though D6, but together covering the distance equal to A (=3, i.e. A is divided into 13 divisions, where the designated points are on 3, 2, 3, 2 and 3). This defines the remaining five arches.
The same construction vertically simetrical finishes the picture.
Željko Heimer, 31 January 2004 (thanks to Christopher Southworth and Victor Lomantsov who provided with the original documentation)

New Law on State Symbols was adopted on 17 July 2004 (Law # 91). Corrections th this Law were made many times: by Laws #15 from 23.01.2009, #48 from 12.02 2009, #294 from 6.11.2009, #21 from 29.01.2010, #130 from 26.07.2011, #227 from 29.11.2011, #22 from 17.03.2012, #161 from 24.07.2013, #21 from 9.02.2017, #117 from 13.12.2022, #208 from 22.12.2023. But real changes to the flag was made only by last Law # 208 from 22.12.2023.
Victor Lomantsov, 3 January 2024

On April 11th, 2017, Kyrgyzstan updated the specifications of their national flag and national emblem. The specifications can be downloaded from https://grs.gov.kg/ru/eid/regulations/.. and the biggest change was the adoption of color specifications (1788C for Red, Process Yellow C for Yellow) and it gave very clear instructions on how to draw the yurt symbol in the middle of the flag. The overall size, ratio ad yurt specifications did not change.
Zachary Harden, 18 October 2018

Sources for colors:
prepared by Zoltan Horvath, 25 June 2024

The protocol manual for the London 2012 Olympics (Flags and Anthems Manual London 2012 ) provides recommendations for national flag designs. Each NOC was sent an image of the flag, including the PMS shades, for their approval by LOCOG. Once this was obtained, LOCOG produced a 60 x 90 cm version of the flag for further approval. So, while these specs may not be the official, government, version of each flag, they are certainly what the NOC believed the flag to be.
for Kyrgyzstan: PMS 032 red, 109 yellow. The vertical flag is simply the horizontal version turned 90 degrees clockwise
Ian Sumner, 11 October 2012

by António Martins-Tuválkin

The 1990-1992 Kyrghyz flag, above, was quite incorrect. This is supposed to have been the Kyrghyz ASSR flag without the hammer and sickle with a ratio of 1:2.
António Martins-Tuválkin, 06 May 2000

The flag of 1990-1992 without the star, hammer and sickle is very doubtful. Maybe somebody in 1990 made same flag, but as I know official flag until 1992 was WITH star, hammer and sickle... There were many proposals of flags in 1990-1992: - blue, red, green equal horizonthal stripes divided with thin white stripes; - light-blue flag with sun in the centre; - green, white, red with the silhouette of national house ("yurta") near the hoist; etc.
Victor Lomantsov, 07 May 2000

All I can say on this is that I saw frequently in that period depictions (no photos) of the Kirghiz flag without hammer and sickle. I also saw once or twice the flag depicted with hammer and sickle, though.

So out here in the west, people thought the Kirghiz flag had dropped the sickle and hammer. I wonder where that came from?
Jorge Candeias, 09 May 2000

I saw TV spot in December 1991 (or so) in that the flag with the hammer and sickle was displayed during the official meeting ceremony in visit of some US politician, possibly President Bush. There were two poles, one with US and the other with Kyrgyzstan hammer and sickle flags.
Jan Zrzavy, 10 May 2000