Last Thursday Egypt celebrated Revolution Day, which marks the beginning of the era of modern republican Egypt. Watani commemorates the occasion with a look at the flags of Egypt since the 19th century
WATANI International
26 July 2009
On its Internet documentation under the title ‘Egypt’s Contemporary Memory’ (ECM), the Bibliotheca Alexandrina covers aspects of Egypt’s history since the Mohamed Ali era, which began in 1805, and until the present time. Among the archived digital items is the Egyptian flag, a national emblem that represents the different historic phases of Egypt’s independence.
Powerful message
Various flags were used within the Ottoman Empire. After the Ottomans occupied Egypt in 1517, their red flag which was dominated by a white red crescent was used for Egypt, as part of the empire. According to Khaled Azab, deputy director of ECM, some people believe the crescent was a symbol of Islam. However it was an ancient symbol of Byzantium and Constantinople, and while this alone was an important reason to adopt the symbol as an Ottoman symbol, it was not the only reason. In some Turkish clans and kingdoms, the crescent-shaped symbols were used extensively. The crescent was quite popular in Persia, which was the origin of much of the non-Roman Ottoman culture at that time. The crescent for the Ottoman Empire was therefore a powerful message as well as an appropriate symbol binding the past to the future.
Secular and religious
By the 18th century, the flag of the Ottoman navy had become red, since following the New Order reforms red was the flag of secular institutions and green of religious ones. A new flag was designed to replace all these flags with one single, national flag. The result was the red and white flag with the crescent and star.
To signify his autonomy from the Ottoman Porte and his own grandiose ambitions of challenging the Sultan for control of the Ottoman Empire itself, Mohamed Ali introduced a flag highly reminiscent of the Ottoman flag, with three white crescents and three stars on a red field. It has been suggested that this was to symbolise the victory of his armies in three continents (Africa, Asia and Europe), or his own sovereignty over Egypt, Nubia, and Sudan.
After the Orabi Revolution in 1882, British forces occupied the country, igniting even greater nationalist resentment. This reached a peak in the Revolution of 1919, when both the red Mohamed Ali flag and a special green banner bearing a crescent and cross—to show that both Muslims and Christians supported the nationalist movement against British occupation—were seen on the streets.
First national flag
Mr Azab believes that supporters of the 1919 Revolution, following the detainment of political activist Saad Zaghloul, used a green flag with a white crescent and a white cross to call for the release of Zaghloul, their leader. The crescent and the cross were symbols of national unity. Out of this flag was born the Egyptian flag which dominated after Egypt declared independence in 1923.
The first official national flag of modern Egypt was adopted by a Royal Decree of the Kingdom of Egypt in 1923, after Britain formally recognised Egyptian independence in 1922. It consisted of a white crescent with three white stars on a green background.
The three stars supposedly represented either the three regions comprising the Kingdom (Egypt, Nubia and Sudan), or the three religious communities of Egypt: Muslims, Christians and Jews.
The Royal Decree No.90 was issued in 1923 identifying the Royal flag with the figure of a royal crown placed at the upper left corner.
Under the republic
Following the 1952 revolution, the republic initially kept the green flag with the crescent and three stars of the kingdom, but later replaced it with a red-white-black horizontal tricolour as it is today, but with a different style of eagle emblem in the white stripe, bearing a shield of the crescent and stars. It has since seen only changes to the central emblem: under the United Arab Republic (1958 – 1961), the white stripe contained two green stars representing the united Egypt and Syria. In April 1963 a third star was added representing the federation of Iraq with Egypt and Syria.
In October 1984, Law No 143 was issued and accordingly Egypt withdrew officially from the united Arab Republics. Since then the Eagle of Saladin has been restored with a superimposed shield, and a scroll bearing the country’s name in Arabic centred in the white band of the three equal horizontal bands of red (top), white, and black The colour red refers to the period before the 1952 Revolution which brought a group of army officers to power. The white symbolises the advent of the revolution, which ended the monarchy without bloodshed. The black symbolises the end of the oppression of the people of Egypt at the hands of the monarchy and British colonialism. The colours of the current flag are also seen on the flags of Yemen, Syria, and Iraq. The central emblem differs from one country to the other.