CAIRO -

The term "new republic" has become popular in Egypt over the past months, since Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi used it in one of his speeches last year.

Egyptian media professionals and politicians competed to talk about the "new republic" and to theorize it as a new state to be built.

Recently, some opinions have emerged that speak of the necessity of changing the Egyptian state's flag and emblem to fit - according to the viewers of these calls - with the characteristics of the "new republic".

At first glance, it may seem to some that changing the state’s flag and emblem and perhaps its national anthem is shocking, especially since the current flag and emblem have remained unchanged for nearly 40 years.

But by looking at the pages of history, we find that these symbols have changed several times over the past two centuries, especially with the different political conditions and regimes that lead the country.

The Egyptian flag is considered one of the symbols of the state. It enjoys legal protection that must be respected and respected. Article 223 of the current constitution states that insulting the Egyptian flag is a crime punishable by law.

The constitution determines the shape and design of the flag, while placing the state emblem and the national anthem and peace is left to the law.

The Egyptian flag and the state emblem have gone through several historical stages, during which its colors and symbols have changed to express the reality of the historical stage in the country.

crescent moon and stars

At the beginning of the 19th century, the Egyptian flag was the same as the flag of the Ottoman Empire with a red color with a crescent and a seven-pointed star in the middle.

In 1826, Muhammad Ali Pasha tightened his control over Egypt and ruled the country alone. He decided at that time to distinguish the Egyptian flag from the flag of the Ottoman Empire by changing the star into a five-pointed star.

The flag of Muhammad Ali continued until 1867, when Khedive Ismail took over the rule of the country, changing the symbols of the flag to become 3 white crescents, each with a five-pointed star, while retaining the color of the red flag.

Historical interpretations of the three crescents differ, as some see that they symbolize Egypt, Nubia and Sudan, while some interpret them as the victories of the Egyptian armies since the era of Muhammad Ali in the three continents (Africa, Europe and Asia).

With the entry of the British occupation into Egypt in 1882 during the reign of Khedive Muhammad Tawfiq, the old Ottoman red flag with a crescent and seven-pointed star was restored, and it remained in place until the outbreak of World War I in 1914.

During this period, the emblem of the Egyptian state was a red shield topped by a crown and in the middle of it were 3 white crescents, each embracing a five-pointed star.

From the Sultanate to the Kingdom

With the outbreak of war, the British protectorate was declared over Egypt, and Sultan Hussein Kamel took over the rule of the country, announcing the return of Khedive Ismail al-Ahmar's flag with crescents and three stars to be the official flag of the country.

The state emblem remained similar to the previous emblem (a shield surmounted by the crown and in the middle of the crescents and stars), although its design differed slightly.

The flag and emblem of the Sultanate did not last long, and with the transformation of the system of government in Egypt to the monarchy in 1922, the Egyptian flag was on the verge of a major change expressing the "independent" Egypt.

For the first time, the red ground disappears from the Egyptian flag to turn green, which symbolizes the greenness of the Nile Valley and the Delta, and in the middle of it is a white crescent with 3 white stars inside. This flag was called the National Flag.

There were different interpretations of the significance of the three stars. Some saw that they refer to Egypt, Nubia and Sudan, while some considered them to be an expression of the three religions of the people of Egypt, namely Islam, Christianity and Judaism.

This was accompanied by changing the state emblem to represent a royal curtain surmounted by the crown, and in the middle of it a circular green emblem with a crescent and 3 stars in the middle.

Republic era

In 1952, Egypt was on a date with a historic change in the system of government after the "Free Officers" organization overthrew King Farouk, and later announced the establishment of the Egyptian Republic.

Despite the historical change, the royal Egyptian flag continued to exist for several years, but in parallel with it a new, unofficial flag appeared in the celebration of the 6 months anniversary of the July Revolution, the flag of the editorial board.

The new flag was completely different from the old flags, and for the first time the flag multiplied to become 3 colors, red, white and black, with the Salah al-Din eagle in the middle, a wide-shaped eagle in the middle of a green circular shield containing a white crescent with 3 stars inside.

It was said that the colors of the flag had special connotations, the red color denotes the revolution, while the white expresses the new era or peace and liberation, the black symbolizes the bygone era, colonialism and the enemies of the revolution.

In 1958, after the declaration of the union between Egypt and Syria, and the change of the country's name from the Republic of Egypt to the United Arab Republic, the three-colored flag became the official flag of the country, but without the eagle of Salah al-Din, as it was replaced by two green stars symbolizing the two countries.

This flag continued as a banner for the country until 1971, despite the end of the union years before this date.

hawk and eagle

During this period, the design of the Saladin eagle was modified to become an official emblem of the country, and it is printed on banknotes and coins.

With the arrival of President Anwar Sadat to power and the declaration of the union of the three Arab republics, Egypt, Syria and Libya in 1971, the shape of the flag changed again.

In 1984, after Hosni Mubarak assumed the rule of the country, the flag changed again, so that the eagle of Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi returned with its golden yellow color to mediate the flag as a sign of Egypt's strength, and it returned again as a emblem of the state, and the flag and emblem are still used to this day.

National Anthem

It was not only the flag and the emblem that changed during these eras, but the national anthem and peace with them.

Egypt knew the national anthem for the first time during the reign of Khedive Ismail in 1869, and it was a piece of music composed by the Italian composer Verdi, and it continued until 1923 at the beginning of the royal era when the anthem “Aslam Ya Masr” became the country’s national anthem, and it was composed by Mustafa Sadiq Al-Rafi’i. The music was composed by the composer Safar Ali.

With the Free Officers Movement in 1952, the "Freedom" anthem was chosen by the poet Kamel El-Shinnawi and composed by Mohamed Abdel-Wahhab as the country's national anthem.

In 1979, President Sadat decided to change the Egyptian republican anthem to “My Country,” which was composed by Muhammad Yunus al-Qadi in 1923 and composed by musician Sayed Darwish, and redistributed by musician Muhammad Abdel Wahab, commissioned by Sadat.

In December 1982, Republican Resolution No. 590 stipulated that the republican peace be limited to only the first part of my country's anthem, and it is still the country's national anthem until now.

"New Republic"

Recently, calls for changing the flag and the slogan reappeared to keep pace with the "new republic", a term that first appeared in Egypt in March 2021 by President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi while talking about the opening of the new administrative capital, considering that it would be the birth of a "new republic." .

Last November, a broadcaster close to the authority, Nashat al-Daihi, suggested preparing a new constitution and changing the country's flag to keep pace with the current developments taking place in the country.

The return of talk about changing the state’s emblem and flag was accompanied by Egypt changing the design of its coins. Historically, changing the state’s emblem and naming it was associated with changing its currency.

Last month, Egypt introduced plastic 10 pound coins bearing a picture of the Al-Fattah Al-Alim Mosque, which Sisi inaugurated in the new administrative capital in January 2019. Local newspapers considered these coins a symbol of the new republic.

If changing the emblem and the national anthem is easier as specified by law, then the matter is different for the flag whose current design was described as a text in the constitution, which means that changing the flag requires a constitutional amendment.