National Flag Day is being celebrated in Azerbaijan today.

Axar.az reports that Azerbaijan's tricolour flag was adopted as a state symbol at a meeting of the Government of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (ADR) on November 9, 1918.

Following the Bolshevik occupation on April 27, 1920, the ADR flag was replaced by the red flag of the Azerbaijan SSR, featuring a hammer and sickle.

On November 17, 1990, at the initiative of National Leader Heydar Aliyev, the tricolour flag was adopted as the State Flag of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic.

At a session of the Supreme Soviet of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic chaired by Heydar Aliyev, a decision was made for the first time to adopt the tricolour flag of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic as the State Flag of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic.

On February 5, 1991, by a decision of the Supreme Soviet of Azerbaijan, the current tricolour flag featuring a crescent and star was declared the state flag of the independent republic.

Under a decree signed by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on November 18, 2009, November 9 is celebrated as National Flag Day. The President also submitted a proposal to parliament to amend the Labour Code in connection with National Flag Day. Having considered the proposal, the Milli Majlis made the relevant amendment to the Labour Code, under which National Flag Day is designated as a non-working day.

On September 1, 2010, the State Flag Square was officially inaugurated in the Bayil area of Baku with the participation of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. The State Flag Museum was also established at the square.

Note that the author of the formula "Turkism, Islamism and Modernity," represented by the three colours of independent Azerbaijan's state flag and constituting the three fundamental principles of the country's national independence ideology in the early 20th century, was the prominent Azerbaijani thinker Ali bey Huseynzade.

The use of the State Flag of the Republic of Azerbaijan is regulated by Articles 23 and 75 of the Constitution of Azerbaijan, the Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan "On the State Flag of the Republic of Azerbaijan," as well as the "Regulations on the State Flag of the Republic of Azerbaijan" approved by that Law. The colour and schematic representations of the State Flag of the Republic of Azerbaijan have been approved by the aforementioned Law and Regulations.

According to the Regulations, the State Flag of the Republic of Azerbaijan is a rectangular piece of fabric consisting of three horizontal coloured stripes of equal width and length: the upper stripe is blue, the middle stripe is red, and the lower stripe is green. On both sides of the flag, a white crescent and an eight-pointed star are depicted in the centre of the red stripe.

The ratio of the flag's width to its length is 1:2. The images of the crescent and the eight-pointed star are positioned within a rectangle whose sides have a ratio of 3:4; the diagonal of this rectangle is equal to half the width of the flag.

The crescent is formed by parts of two non-concentric circles; the diameter of the larger circle is equal to the width of the outer rectangle, while the diameter of the smaller circle is equal to one-quarter of the flag's width.

The centre of the smaller circle is located to the left of the geometric centre of the flag at a distance equal to 1/60 of the flag's width.

The eight-pointed star is positioned to the right of the crescent. The diameter of the star's outer circle is equal to 1/6 of the flag's width, while the diameter of its inner circle is equal to 1/12 of the flag's width.

The State Flag of the Republic of Azerbaijan and its representation must always conform precisely to the approved specifications, regardless of their dimensions.