Balkarian people (Russia)

Last modified: 2003-01-25 by antonio martins
Keywords: balkar | malkar | star: 5 points (red) | ẑankuŝhev (i.) | elbrus | tjore | home | volkariâ |
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• Description of the flag
• Tjore organization
• Aspirant chart flag
• Autonomist flag of 1992 (?)

• Kabard-Balkaria
• Russia
• Unofficial regional and ethnical flags

According to Vexillologie 116 [vex], this is the flag of Balkar National Council and of the self-proclaimed Balkar Republic.
Jan Zrzavy, 27 Jun 2001

This national flag was adopted by 3rd session of 1st Congress of Balkarian people on 19, June, 1993. Author of the flag was I. Zhankushiev. Symbols:

• Blue colour - family of turkish peoples
• Upper white stripe - celestial way of balkarian people
• Lower white stripe - earthly way of balkarian people
• White "double-headed" mountain - Elbrus (highest point in Caucasus, 5642 m) - two related peoples: balkarians and karachai

According to Vexillologie 116 [vex], the blue flag with two white stripes, white circle, and white Elbrus Mt. belongs to the Karachay-Balkar organization Tjore (= Home?).
Jan Zrzavy, 27 Jun 2001

This flag, in light blue, is listed under number 107 at the chart Flags of Aspirant Peoples [eba94] as: «Malkar Respublika (Balkarians) - North Caucasus, Russia».
Ivan Sache, 15 Sep 1999

I wander where this design comes from. Like many other post-soviet russian flags, it shows clear reminiscences of the RSFSR flag. The spelling "Volkariâ" is quite weird, as the first letter should really be a cyrillic "b", not a latin one. Balkars, by the way, call themselves "Malkar", so this is not a local language issue. The second letter should also be something else: an "a" — I smell super-correction syndrome (with an "o" it would still sound as "a" in normative Russian pronunciation). All this may imply well-meaning but not very astute “research” made by a non-russian.
António Martins, 09 Jan 2003