Azerbaijan

About the flag

Azerbaijan is correct because this tricolor with a white crescent and eight-pointed star is unique to the Azerbaijani flag—unlike Ireland’s vertical green-white-orange, Croatia’s red-white-blue with a checkerboard crest, or Albania’s black double-headed eagle. The colors reflect identity and ideals: blue for Turkic heritage, red for progress and modernity, and green for Islam. The crescent symbolizes Islam, while the eight-pointed star is often said to represent the eight branches of the Turkic peoples or the eight letters of “Azerbaijan” in Arabic script. Memory tip: think “AZER-8”—Azerbaijan’s name cues the eight-pointed star. The flag dates to 1918’s short-lived Azerbaijan Democratic Republic and was restored in 1991 after independence from the USSR. Baku, its capital, sits on oil-rich shores of the Caspian Sea.