Students of Kazakh National Juridical University meet author of national flag

Almaty, 22 October 2008, (Khabar) - The flag of Kazakhstan has been the symbol of the independent state for 16 years and, according to its author, Shaken Niyazbekov this is one of his main creations in his life. On the threshold of the Day of the Republic, the painter was invited to meet students of Astana.

The flag of Kazakhstan shows the sun, a silhouette of a
flying eagle on a blue cloth; few details, but a lot of meaning. When Shaken
Niyazbekov was painting the future flag of Kazakhstan he did not think that
he would become history, since in 1992 he was about to be late for the
competition and presented his project last. Despite the fact that the jury
had already seen almost 600 proposals, the sketch of Shaken Niyazbekov
attracted their attention and the laconic blue sky and deep meaning symbols
won the competition.

Shaken Niyazbekov, author of national flag:
- My flag shows the sun, an eagle and, as the sign of our country, our
national ornament, which was very difficult for me to paint. I read a lot of
books and looked through archive documents but there were no special
ornaments for flags. Then I invented the ornament based on Kazakh
traditional elements.

Shaken Niyazbekov answered all the questions of the students who were
interested in such things as whether he consulted with someone during the
creation of the flag, why he chose exactly those symbols, and whether he
wanted to change something after the work was done. However, everyone
admitted that the Kazakhstan flag is one of the most beautiful ones and now
it is difficult to imagine another flag other than the current one.