Turkmenistan’s flag has a green field with a red hoist stripe containing five carpet guls. It also features a white crescent and five stars on the green field.
The red stripe highlights Turkmenistan’s famous carpet-weaving tradition. The five stacked guls are traditional carpet motifs associated with the country’s five major tribes: Teke, Yomut, Saryk, Chowdur and Ersari. The stripe also contains crossed olive branches, added to the modern design as a symbol of peace.
Turkmenistan adopted its first post-Soviet national flag on 27 September 1992. The current proportions and design details were adopted on 24 January 2001. The flag replaced the Soviet-era Turkmen SSR flag after independence.
The five stars are often linked to the country’s five provinces, while the crescent is a familiar symbol in Turkic and Islamic cultures. A frequent mistake is to confuse the guls with stars or flowers: they are stylized carpet designs, not botanical symbols.