Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...

has no official national emblem, but the crescent and star ( tr, ay-yıldız, ) design from the

national flag A national flag is a flag that represents and symbolizes a given nation. It is flown by the government of that nation, but usually can also be flown by its citizens. A national flag is typically designed with specific meanings for its colours a ...

is in use as the ''

de facto ''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with '' de jure'' ("by l ...

'' national emblem on Turkish passports,

Turkish identity card The Republic of Turkey Identity Card ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Kimlik Kartı) is compulsory for all Turkish citizens from birth. The Turkish police are allowed to ask any person to show ID, and refusing to comply may lead to a fine. It can be us ...

s and at the

diplomatic missions of Turkey This is a list of the diplomatic missions of Turkey. Africa Americas Asia Europe Oceania Intergovernmental organizations Embassies to open * * * * * * * * * Consulates to open * – Aden * – Chengdu * – Chen ...

. The crescent and star are from the 19th-century

Ottoman flag The Ottoman Empire used various of flags, especially as naval ensigns, during its history. The star and crescent came into use in the second half of the 18th century. A ' (decree) from 1793 required that the ships of the Ottoman Navy were to u ...

(1844–1923) which also forms the basis of the present-day

Turkish flag The national flag of Turkey, officially the Turkish flag ( tr, Türk bayrağı), is a red flag featuring a white star and crescent. The flag is often called "the red flag" (), and is referred to as "the red banner" () in the Turkish national a ...

. Following the abolition of the Sultanate on 1 November 1922, the Ottoman coat of arms was no longer used and the crescent and star became Turkey's de facto national emblem. In the national identity cards of the 1930s the horns of the crescent were facing left, instead of the now more common orientation towards right.

History

The coat of arms of the Sultan was abolished from usage after the abolition of the Ottoman sultanate in 1922. In its stead, the star and crescent on the flag was adopted. Three years later, in 1925,

Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

opened a contest for determining another official coat of arms and artist

Namık İsmail Namık İsmail (1890 in Samsun – August 30, 1935 in Istanbul) was a Turkish Impressionist painter and art educator, who received his training in France. Biography İsmail was born into an upper-class family that moved to Istanbul while he was st ...

's design won. İsmail's design featured a red shield charged with a white star and crescent. Underneath there was a

grey wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly u ...

, connected to Oghuz Turkic mythology, standing on a spear. The shield was surrounded by a garland of wheat and oak leaves, with a medallion depicting

Ottoman alphabet The Ottoman Turkish alphabet ( ota, الفبا, ') is a version of the Arabic script used to write Ottoman Turkish Ottoman Turkish ( ota, لِسانِ عُثمانى, Lisân-ı Osmânî, ; tr, Osmanlı Türkçesi) was the standardized regi ...

letters T and C for ''Türkiye Cumhuriyeti'', Republic of Turkey. Above the shield was placed a lit torch, symbolising the country's independence. However, the new coat of arms was never registered as an official coat of arms, and was never used subsequently. File:Proposed national emblem of Turkey 1925.svg,

's proposed design

Use by government bodies

Red circle with white star and crescent

A circular section of the red Flag of Turkey containing the white crescent and star is used in the current emblems of a number of Turkish ministries and governmental institutions, in the emblem of the Grand National Assembly, and as the flag badge on the uniforms of Turkish national sports teams and athletes. It was also used on the old (non-digital) Turkish identity cards. File:Turkey emblem round.svg, Circular flag used as a badge by the national sports teams and athletes and for other semi-official purposes File:Seal of the Turkish Parliament (Türkiye Büyük Millet Meclisi).svg, Seal of the Grand National Assembly (parliament) File:Seal of Prime Ministry of the Republic of Turkey.svg, Seal of the Prime Ministry (historic)

Coat of arms of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

The

Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs The Ministry of Foreign Affairs ( tr, Dışişleri Bakanlığı) is a government ministry of the Republic of Turkey, responsible for the nation's foreign policy and international relations. Established on 2 May 1920, its primary duties are a ...

often uses a red

oval An oval () is a closed curve in a plane which resembles the outline of an egg. The term is not very specific, but in some areas (projective geometry, technical drawing, etc.) it is given a more precise definition, which may include either one ...

-shaped escutcheon which takes its colour from the Turkish flag, while its shape echoes the oval

shield A shield is a piece of personal armour held in the hand, which may or may not be strapped to the wrist or forearm. Shields are used to intercept specific attacks, whether from close-ranged weaponry or projectiles such as arrows, by means of ...

at the center of the late 19th-century Ottoman coat of arms. The escutcheon contains a gold-tone crescent and star which are vertically oriented (with the star on top) and surrounded by the gold-tone text ''T.C. Dışişleri Bakanlığı''. A variant of this oval escutcheon (containing the gold-tone text ''Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Büyükelçiliği'') is used by the Turkish embassies. File:Disisleri-bakanligi-logo.png, Seal of the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the government department responsible for the state's diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral relations affairs as well as for providing support for a country's citizens who are abroad. The enti ...

File:Tc buyukelcilikamblem.svg, Variant used by the

Embassies A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually deno ...

File:TC Consulate–General Emblem.svg, Variant used by the

Consulates A consulate is the office of a consul. A type of diplomatic mission, it is usually subordinate to the state's main representation in the capital of that foreign country (host state), usually an embassy (or, only between two Commonwealth count ...

Presidential seal

The seal of the President of Turkey has a large 16-pointed star in the center, which is surrounded by 16 five-pointed stars, symbolizing the

16 Great Turkic Empires The ''16 Great Turkic Empires'' ( tr, , which translates as "16 Great '' Turkic'' States") is a concept in Turkish ethnic nationalism, introduced in 1969 by Akib Özbek, map officer and widely invoked by Turkish authorities during the 1980s ...

. Its appearance is regulated by law. File:Emblem of the Presidency of Turkey.svg, Presidential Seal of Türkiye File:Flag of the President of Turkey.svg, Presidential Flag of Türkiye

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Emblems Of Turkey

National symbols of Turkey