Presidential Seal of Turkey

The Presidential Seal of Turkey is the official seal of the Turkish President.

It has a large 16-pointed star (the Sun, symbolizing the Republic of Turkey) in the center, which is surrounded by 16 five-pointed stars, symbolizing the 16 Turkic states in history that are regarded as the predecessors of the modern Turkish Republic.^[1]

The roots of the Turkish Presidential Seal and Turkish Presidential Flag go back to September 1922, when a similar flag was used on the automobile that took Mustafa Kemal Atatürk to İzmir during the final days of the Turkish War of Independence.^[1] This flag is currently on display at the Anıtkabir Museum in Ankara.^[1] The Presidential Flag's characteristics and proportions were legalized with the Sancak Talimatnamesi law on October 22, 1925.^[1] According to this law, the Presidential Seal's dimensions were defined as "70cm x 70cm", while the Sun in the center (which looked similar to the current one) was a 20-pointed star containing 10 sharp-edged and 10 oval-edged light rays.^[1] The "70cm x 70cm" dimensions of the Presidential Seal were maintained in the Turkish Flag Law of May 29, 1936; but were later reduced to "30cm x 30cm" with a new legal amendment that was made on September 14, 1937.^[1] The number of the light rays in the Sun of the Presidential Seal were reduced to 16 (8 long and 8 short light rays, all of them sharp-edged) in order to symbolize the 16 Turkic states in history, with another legal amendment on February 18, 1978.^[1] The seal and flag took their current shape and proportions with the final legal amendment on January 25, 1985.^[1]

Presidential Seal of Turkey

Presidential Flag of Turkey

[edit] References and notes

[edit] See also

• President of Turkey
• List of Presidents of Turkey
• Çankaya Köşkü, the Seat of the Turkish Presidency