Georgia celebrates its National Flag Day on 14 January, but due to the COVID epidemic, no large-scale events will be held this year. The State Council of Heraldry encourages citizens to raise and display the national flag from their balconies or rooftops in honor of Georgia’s statehood.
The current flag was adopted by the Georgian patriotic movements after the country’s 1991 independence from the Soviet Union. By the late 1990s the design was widely known as the Georgian historic national flag.
A majority of Georgians backed the restoration of the Georgian flag. In 1999, the Parliament of Georgia adopted a bill for changing the flag. Eduard Shevardnadze, the President of Georgia, did not endorse it. It was adopted by the main opposition, the United National Movement, led by Mikheil Sakaashvili, in the early 2000s as a sign of popular resistance against Shevardnadze’s rule as well as the symbol of the Rose Revolution.
The flag was adopted on 14 January 2004 by the Parliament. Saakashvili officially endorsed it through Presidential Decree No. 31 signed by Saakashvili on 25 January following his election to the presidency. Flag Day is celebrated in Georgia every year on 14 January.
The Prime Minister of Georgia Giorgi Gakharia stated that the Day of the State Flag of Georgia is a day to celebrate the Georgian flag.
The Prime Minister is confident that it is not long before this symbol of Georgian nationhood is erected alongside the flags of member states of the European Family.
By Ana Dumbadze
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