Flag of Tunisia

What the flag of Tunisia looks like

The flag of Tunisia is red with a white disc in the middle. Inside the disc is a red crescent that holds a red five-pointed star. The proportions are 2:3. There are only two colors, and the shape of the circle, crescent and star is the only decoration.

The star sits within the opening of the crescent. It is easy to confuse this flag with the flag of Turkey, which is also red with a white crescent and star. The Turkish flag has no disc, and its crescent and star are white on the red field. You can see the Tunisian design in the Tunisia flag emoji.

Tunisia flag meaning and symbolism

Red is read as the blood of Tunisian martyrs, and it was also the color of the Beylical flag. White is the color of peace. The crescent and star are old symbols of Islam, the main religion of Tunisia, and the disc is said to stand for the sun. There is more than one interpretation of these symbols, so these are the common readings.

The crescent is also linked to ancient Carthage, in present-day Tunisia, where it appeared on standards and buildings long before Islam. The crescent and star are also symbols related to the Ottoman Empire and its historic rule of the region.

History of the Tunisian flag

After the Battle of Navarino in 1827, the Husainid bey Hussein II decided to create a flag for the Tunisian fleet, based on the plain red naval flags used along the southern Mediterranean coast. The government gives 1831 as the year it was adopted. Tunisia then became a French protectorate in 1881, and the flag was kept.

Tunisia became independent on 20 March 1956 and the flag was kept as the national flag. The flag was proclaimed the state flag of the Republic in the constitution of 1 June 1959, and a law of 30 June 1999 set its exact proportions and construction. Its general appearance has stayed virtually unchanged. The Tunisian flag was also flown in the revolution of 2010-11, which began in Tunisia and led to the Arab Spring.

Tunisia flag vs Turkey flag

The flags of Tunisia and Turkey look close because both come from the same Ottoman red. Turkey's flag has a white crescent and a white star on a red field. Tunisia's has a red crescent and star on a white disc. Tunisia was under Ottoman rule before the French protectorate, and the crescent and star are symbols related to the Ottoman Empire, which explains why the two flags look alike. The neighbors Algeria and Libya have very different flags.