Kyrgyz national flag to be changed so it doesn’t look like sunflower

26.10.2023, 16:08 exclusive.kz

Kyrgyz president Sadyr Japarov on Thursday backed MPs’ proposals to ‘edit’ the sun rays on the country’s national flag, so the sun does not look like a sunflower.

“On the whole, I support the idea,” Japarov told the official Kabar news agency.

“Some people think that [the sun on] our flag looks like a sunflower. There were instances when visiting foreigners said that probably we have lots of sunflowers in our country,” Japarov said.

The Kyrgyz parliament has been discussing the proposal to ‘edit’ the sun rays on the national flag since September. The initiative has been criticised by civil society and some MPs as a waste of time at the expense of other more important issues.

“Speaking openly, since independence we have been strongly dependent on the outside world,” Japarov said, apparently, referencing the sunflower’s ‘dependence’ on the sun, i.e. its habit of turning to always face the sun.

“Maybe this is why it is time we reviewed the appearance of our flag,” Japarov said.

Japarov added that he did not like the new version of the flag proposed by MPs, because the sun rays on it “looked like spikes”, and he had it changed by designers.

“The rays on the corrected version indeed look like sun rays.”

“If this version, God willing, passes, from now on we won’t be dependent on anyone. The sun will shine on us, and smile at us. I am not superstitious. Still, we must hope that from now on we shall be a developed and independent country,” Japarov said.