Presidential emblem of Turkey
The Presidential emblem of Turkey is a symbol used to represent the president of Turkey. It has a large 16-pointed Sun in the center which symbolizes the Republic of Turkey. The sun is surrounded by 16 five-pointed stars, symbolizing the 16 Great Turkic Empires in history.
History
The roots of the Presidential emblem and Presidential flag of Turkey 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. This flag is currently on display at the Anıtkabir Museum in Ankara. The Presidential Flag's characteristics and proportions were legalized with the Sancak Talimatnamesi law on October 22, 1925. According to this law, the Presidential emblem's dimensions were defined as "70cm x 70cm", while the Sun in the center was a 20-pointed star containing 10 sharp-edged and 10 oval-edged light rays. 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. The number of the light rays in the Sun of the Presidential Seal were reduced to 16 in order to symbolize the 16 Turkic states in history, with another legal amendment on February 18, 1978. The seal and flag took their current shape and proportions with the final legal amendment on January 25, 1985.The 16 Great Turkic Empires are a Pan-Turkist concept introduced in 1969 by Akib Özbek. Its association with the emblem was introduced in 1985, under president Kenan Evren. Prior to this assertion, the 16 stars had been taken as representing sixteen medieval beyliks which succeeded the Seljuk Empire.