The current flag of BiH has officially been in use since February 4, 1998, when the then High Representative Carlos Westendorp imposed the current flag because deputies of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH could not agree on a new flag, and the coat of arms was adopted in mid-May 1998.
“I remember as if it happened today, all variants of the flag were yellow-blue. Some of them were horizontal, some of them had a larger blue line, or smaller yellow line. In the end, we got this proposal that we have as an official coat of arms and flag of BiH. Not the republic, but BiH as it is called since the Dayton. This is a stylised yellow triangle, which should represent a graphically cleaned territory of BiH. We have this blue bottom and these two parts are divided by these white stars,” said Professor Zdravko Grebo, News Agency Patria reports.
He found out that the author of this design is some Dutch designer, which was a bit unpleasant for him, because, as he said, in all countries that are taking care of tradition, national pride, statehood, this kind of symbols must be a product of domestic people, and it was done by a foreigner in this case.
He also added that the identification of people with their country is built through these symbols as well, referring to the national anthem.
Grebo also added that besides the current coat of arms, he also has a former flag displayed in his office.
“Flag with lilies has a strong foundation, the entire heraldics. The coat of arms with the sword and six lilies was the coat of arms that is connected with the King Tvrtko. And the real Bosnian coat of arms, which can be found in the book of coat of arms, has a maroon base with a crown and an arm bent in the elbow,” said Professor Grebo.
The flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina contains a wide medium blue vertical band on the fly side with a yellow right triangle abutting the band and the top of the flag.
The remainder of the flag is medium blue with seven full five-pointed white stars and two half stars top and bottom along the hypotenuse of the triangle.
The three points of the triangle stand for the three main ethnic groups (or “constituent peoples”) of Bosnia and Herzegovina: Bosniaks, Croats, and Serbs.
The triangle represents the approximate shape of the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The stars, representing Europe, are meant to be infinite in number and thus they continue from top to bottom. The flag features colors often associated with neutrality and peace – white, blue, and yellow. They are also colors traditionally associated with Bosnian culture and history.
The blue background is invocative of the flag of Europe.
The Bosnian national flag is also used as the regional flag of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, one of the constituent entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
