Turkmenistan Flag: Meaning, Colors, History & Facts
Turkmenistan’s national flag has a green field, a red vertical carpet band with five traditional guls, a white crescent and five stars, plus two olive branches symbolizing neutrality.
What does the Turkmenistan flag look like?
The flag is predominantly green. Near the hoist is a red vertical strip containing five ornate carpet guls above two crossed olive branches. A white crescent and five white stars appear in the upper green field.
What do the carpet guls mean?
The five traditional carpet ornaments represent major strands of Turkmen tribal and artistic heritage and make the flag one of the most detailed national designs in the world.
What do the crescent and stars mean?
Turkmen official sources connect them with unity, solidarity, brotherhood, renewal and life.
What do the olive branches mean?
The olive branches represent peace and neutrality and were added after Turkmenistan gained internationally recognized permanent-neutrality status.
Explore the guls, stars and olive branches →
When was the national flag adopted?
The independent state’s flag was approved on February 19, 1992, shortly after independence from the Soviet Union.
What changed after 1995?
Turkmenistan received permanent-neutrality status in 1995, and olive branches were subsequently incorporated into the flag to reflect that status.
Read the Turkmenistan flag history →
How can you identify it?
The red carpet strip is the quickest clue. No other sovereign national flag uses a comparable vertical sequence of traditional carpet ornaments.
Turkmenistan flag facts
| Field | Green |
|---|---|
| Carpet guls | 5 |
| Stars | 5 |
| Olive branches | Peace and neutrality |
| Adopted | February 19, 1992 |
