Every nation has its own symbols – signs that embody its history, memory, and worldview. One such symbol is the flag. For the Crimean Tatars, one of Ukraine’s indigenous peoples, it is a blue flag bearing the tamga.

The light blue color symbolizes a clear sky and peace, the solid-color background symbolizes the unity of the people. 

“It [the flag] is called “mala kok”, meaning specifically light blue, not just blue. This flag existed as far back as the time of the Crimean Khanate, but it was never used in military campaigns,” notes historian Gulnara Abdulayeva. 

The symbol on the flag is a tamga, or more precisely, a “tarak-tamga”: the ancestral symbol of the Giray dynasty, which ruled the Crimean Khanate in the 15th–18th centuries. This symbol once adorned the Khanate’s coins and seals, and its imprint is still preserved on the walls of the Khan’s Palace in Bakhchysarai.

In the 20th century, the tamga transcended the boundaries of the dynasty and became the symbol of the entire Crimean Tatar people.

The flag was adopted in 1917 at the first Kurultai – people’s congress – held at the Bakhchysarai Palace. It was adopted by the Mufti of Crimea, Noman Chelebidzhikhan. However, later the Bolsheviks declared the light blue flag with the tamga “bourgeois-nationalist” and banned it.

It was only after Ukraine restored its independence in 1991 that the light blue flag with a golden tamga in the upper left corner was reinstated as the flag of the Crimean Tatar people. This occurred during the second Kurultai of the Crimean Tatar people, which was held in Simferopol.

Today, the Crimean Tatar flag is not only a symbol of identity but also a symbol of resistance to the occupation and systematic oppression of the indigenous people. It embodies the struggle for rights, freedom, and the liberation of the peninsula, and remains an important symbol of the restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity.