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The Flags of
Modern Iraq (1921 - present)
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The 1921 Flag of
The Kingdom of Iraq
The colours for the flag were inspired by the poetry of Safi
il-Deen Al-Hilli (above). The two seven point stars denote
the then 14 provinces of the Kingdom.
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The 1958 Flag of
The new Republic of Iraq
The overthrow of the Monarchy on the 14th July 1958 brought
about a change in Flags. Although the colours in the new
flag are mostly the same as those in the old Kingdom Flag,
they have other historical inspirations. The green colour
represents the Prophet Mohammad's green flag, while the
black is a reminder of the Abbasid's black flags. The white
segment is in remembrance of the Ummayid's white flags. The
red star (of Ishtar) represented the Assyrian minority. The new addition of the yellow colour is
a sign denoting the Kurdish population of Iraq (Yellow was a
colour used by Salladin, the famous Kurdish born leader).
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The 1963 Flag
Another change of power brought another change of flags. The
new flag uses the same colours as those of the Kingdom Flag
and are inspired by the same poetry. However the symbolism
changed and the three green stars are to show intended
unification between Iraq, Egypt and Syria. After the
Baathist takeover of 1968 and the abandonment of the
unification plans, the symbolism of the three stars changed
yet again. The new translation was that the three stars
point to the Baathist motto of "Wihda, Hurriyah,
Ishtirrakiyah" (Unity, Freedom, Socialism).
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The 1991 Flag
The words Allahu Akbar (God is Great) were added by Saddam
Hussein prior to the start of the Gulf War. The intent was
to improve an Islamic image.
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The Flag
that never was
On 26 April 2004 the Iraq Interim Governing Council
announced a new flag for post-Saddam Iraq. designed by Rifat
al-Chadirchi. The flag was intended to be a temporary
replacement for the red, black and green banner. The
parallel blue lines represent the Tigris and Euphrates
Rivers, the yellow line represents the Kurds, while the
crescent is a symbol of Islam. Strongly criticised, the flag
did not see the light of the sky.
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The new 2004
Iraqi Flag
At the ceremony on 28 June 2004 when the new interim
government of Iraq was sworn into office, the stage was
backed with a row of flags similar to the 1991 pattern, but
wider, with the stars and the Arabic script more loosely
spread across the width of the flag.
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The new
temporary 2008 Iraqi Flag
On 22 January 2008, the Iraqi parliament approves new
temporary flag which will be expired in one year. The
approval for the new flag came by majority after 110 out of
165 parliament members approved the flag change. The colors
of the new flag are still red, white and black, but the
three green stars which represent the objectives of Saddam
Hussein's Baath party: unity, freedom and socialism, will be
removed, to address the concerns of Iraqi Kurds. The design
preserves a sense of continuous national identity, while
purging the flag of Baathist allusions.
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