National emblem of Turkey

National Emblem of the Republic of Turkey
Details
Armiger	Republic of Turkey
Escutcheon	Crescent moon and star
Use	Turkish passport, Turkish ID card, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Turkey)

The emblem of Turkey, seen at the Turkish Embassy in Vienna, Austria.

The emblem as used on national ID cards

The Republic of Turkey has no official national emblem, but the star and crescent (Turkish: ay-yıldız "crescent-star") design from the national flag is in use as de facto emblem, among other things printed on Turkish passports, on Turkish identity cards and diplomatic missions of Turkey.

The star and crescent is retained from the 19th-century Ottoman flag, and has acquired its status as de facto national emblem following the abolition of the Ottoman coat of arms in 1922. It was used on national identity cards by the 1930s (with the horns of the crescent facing left instead of the now more common orientation towards the right).

Use by government bodies

Red circle with white star and crescent

A circular section of the red Flag of Turkey containing the white star and crescent 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.^[1]

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  Circular emblem used as a badge by the national sports teams, as well as for other semi-official purposes
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  Seal of the Grand National Assembly (parliament)
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  Seal of the Prime Minister old logo

Coat of arms of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Turkish Embassy in The Hague, Netherlands, with the oval-shaped ambassadorial escutcheon which is derived from the oval shield at the center of the Ottoman coat of arms.

The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs often uses a red oval-shaped escutcheon which takes its colour from the Turkish flag, while its shape echoes the oval shield at the center of the late 19th-century Ottoman coat of arms.^[2] The escutcheon contains a gold-tone star and crescent which are vertically oriented (with the star on top) and surrounded by the gold-tone text T.C. Dışişleri Bakanlığı.^[3] A variant of this oval escutcheon (containing the gold-tone text Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Büyükelçiliği) is used by the Turkish embassies.^[4][5]

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  Escutcheon used by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Embassies and Consulates
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  Variant used by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

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.^[6] Its appearance is regulated by law.

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  Presidential Seal of Turkey
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  Presidential Flag of Turkey

Proposed coat of arms

In 1925, the Ministry of National Education held a contest for a national emblem. Namık İsmail, a painter, won the contest with his coat of arms depicting Asena, a mythological wolf in the founding myth of the Gökbörü clan which ruled the Göktürk Empire. However, this coat of arms was never used.

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  Namık İsmail's winning coat of arms (rendition)

In 2014, MPs of AKP in TBMM attempted to pass a motion in order to officially create a new coat of arms for the country.^[7][8]

See also

• Coat of arms of the Ottoman Empire
• Flag of Turkey
• Turkey
• Coats of arms of Europe

References