Flag of Armenia

Flag of Armenia

Use	National flag on land.
Proportion	1:2
Adopted	August 24, 1990
Design	A horizontal tricolor of red, blue and orange.

The national flag of Armenia or the Armenian Tricolor consists of three horizontal bands, colored red on the top, blue in the middle and orange on the bottom. Before this flag, Armenia used symbolic variants, displaying different animals, representing Armenian Dynasties, on the solid colored cloth.

The current flag was adopted on August 24, 1990 by the Armenian Supreme Council decision. On June 15, 2006, the Law on the National Flag of Armenia was passed by the Armenian Parliament.

Symbolism

There are many interpretations of the meanings of the colors. However, many agree that the red stands for the blood shed by Armenian soldiers from all wars, the blue stands for the sky of Armenia, hope and the unchanging character of the land, and the orange represents the courage of the people and the fertile lands of Armenia and the workers who work on them.

The official meaning of the colors stated in the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia, as:

"The Red emblematizes the Armenian Highland, the Armenian people's continued struggle for survival, maintenance of the Christian faith, Armenia's independence and freedom. The Blue emblematizes the will of the people of Armenia to live beneath peaceful skies. The Orange emblematizes the creative talent and hard-working nature of the people of Armenia."^[1]

Design

As long as the width-length ratio of the flag is 1:2, smaller and larger fragments of cloth can be used.

Construction sheet of the Armenian flag

Color approximate specifications

Since the Armenian government does not specify the type of red, blue, and orange that should be on the flag, there are mainly two versions. The following table specifies colors of the less (more frequent version's are in parenthesis) frequent version of the flag:

A more frequent version of the Armenian flag

A less frequent version of the Armenian flag

Name

The Armenian word for flag is "Drosh," derived from the Persian "Drafsh" and perhaps the Parthian "Dravsha." Both were familiar to the Armenians during the height of their power. The ancient Armenians "Armenianized" the word into "Dravshag," which in later centuries, with the introduction of the letter "o" into the Armenian alphabet, changed to "Drosh" or "Droshag."

Usage

The flag waving at the Armenian Embassy in Washington, D.C.

The law on the national flag of Armenia advises to hoist the national flag daily, from the following locations:

• Public buildings
• Seat of the presidency of Armenia
• National assembly of Armenia
• The constitutional court of Armenia
• Offices of the bodies representing Armenia

The law allows private citizens to fly the flag on their houses, provided the flag is hoisted higher than 2.5 m (98.42") above ground level.^[2] It forbids the use of dirty, faded or tarnished flags.

History

There is no resemblance between the earliest Armenian flag of antiquity and today's tricolor. The ancient flag displayed a dragon, an eagle, or some mysterious object of the gods (sometimes a lion). This was fastened to the end of a pole and led the armies into battle. With the advent of Christianity, the Armenian empire adopted many different flags representing various dynasties.

19th century

Alishan's 1885 design. Flag Ratio: 1:2

After Armenia was split between the Persian and Ottoman Empires, the idea of an Armenian flag ceased to exist for some time. However, the issued was revived in 1885 when the Armenian Students Association of Paris wanted to join the funeral of Victor Hugo with a national flag. They appealed to an Armenian Catholic priest, Father Ghevont Alishan. Alishan's first flag design was very similar to today's modern Armenian flag: a horizontal tricolor. However, it looks more comparable today to an upsidedown variation of the flag of Bulgaria. The top band would be red to symbolize the first Sunday of Easter (called "Red" Sunday), the green to represent the "Green" Sunday of Easter, and finally an arbitrary color, white, was chosen to complete the combination. While in France, Alishan also designed a second flag, identified today as the "Nationalist Armenian Flag." It too was a tricolor, however, it was a vertical tricolor, like the French flag. Its colors were red, green, and blue respectively, representing the band of colors that Noah saw after landing on Mount Ararat.

Democratic Republic of Armenia

After Armenia became independent from the Russian Empire in the aftermath of its collapse, it joined the short-lived Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic with Georgia and Azerbaijan. This unified state, however, hardly lasted a year and was soon dissolved. It too had a tricolor flag, similar to that of the German flag (black, red and gold), except arranged in a different order (gold, black and red). However, the federation was dissolved on May 26 when Georgia declared its independence as the Democratic Republic of Georgia. Both Armenia and Azerbaijan declared their independence on May 28 as the Democratic Republic of Armenia (DRA) and the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (ADR). Upon independence, the DRA adopted the modern Armenian tricolor. The independent Armenian government selected the colors of the last period of the Rubenid Dynasty: red, blue, and yellow, in which yellow was immediately replaced by orange, because it merged with the rest of the colors and presented a more pleasing composition.

Communistic years

Flag of Soviet Armenia. Flag Ratio: 1:2

Main article: Flag of the Armenian SSR

However with the Bolshevik invasion, the independent Armenian state was quickly absorbed into the Soviet Union. At first, it was united again with Georgia and Azerbaijan under the Transcaucasian SFSR. By 1936, however, the TSFSR was dissolved and all three states became separate republics. As its own republic, Armenia introduced its first Soviet flag in 1937. The first flag was very much like the flag of the Soviet Union itself. It was completely red and in the corner displayed a yellow hammer and sickle. Underneath that, however, were the initials "H-Kh-S-H" written in Armenian serif script. These initials, in Western Armenian, stand for "Hayasdani Khorhurtayin Sovedagan Hanrabedutyun" or the "Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic." In the 1940s, the flag was altered to use the Eastern Armenian language spoken in the Republic. It now read "H-S-S-R" meaning "Hayastani Sovetakan Sotsialistikakan Respublika" in the Eastern pronunciation. In 1952, a new flag was introduced. This time, the characters were removed completely and in their place a horizontal blue stripe. This flag remained unaltered until 1991 when Armenia gained its independence from the Soviet Union and immediately brought back the pre-Soviet tricolor. It was also used in Armenian national movements in 1990, after Armenia first declared its independence.

References

See also

• Coat of Arms of Armenia

External links

• Armenia at Flags of the World
• The Evolution of the Armenian Flag
• (Russian) Flags of Armenia
• Armenica.org - Symbolic values and information about the Armenian flag and coat of arms

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