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Bosnia and Herzegovina - Flags Proposed upon Independence

Last modified: 2009-08-15 by dov gutterman
Keywords: bosnia and herzegovina | bosnia | herzegovina | proposals |
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Green, Red, Blue Proposal

[Tricolour proposal]
image by Jorge Candeias

The first proposal for a national flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina was a threeband green, red, blue (green for the muslim, red for the croatian people, and blue for the serbian people).
Jaume Olle', 6 November 1996

I haven't heard of this one, even if it sounds logical and might have been proposed. I don't know how official this proposal was.
Željko Heimer, 7 November 1996

In "Vlaggen uit de hele Wereld" (the Dutch edition of William Crampton's The World of Flags) which was published in 1992 mentions that a horizontal tricolour of green, red and blue was reported, but not adopted officially.
Mark Sensen,
22 December 1997

Do you mean a green-red-blue design for Bosnia? Both vertical and horizontal designs of that colours (in various orders) where mentioned here and there, but as far as I know none of them came not even near to some official status. One green-red-blue vertical design (with unequal stripes) was proposed by Serbs at some point, but was not considered as serious (I posted it some time ago). The only one that was near to serious consideration is a "Czech" pattern design, but as it seems now it is hardly to be accepted.
Željko Heimer, 22 December 1997


SDA party Proposal

[Serb proposed flag for B&H]
image by Jaume Olle'

Flag seen in Spanish Television 10 September 1997, in an information referred to Bihac. Apparent ratio 2:3 or nearby. Use unknown. Is it the flag of the county of Bihac?
The light blue in the shadde of the flag, similar to the color of the flag of the United Nations, would be a reminiscence of the period in which the zone was under protection (little effective) of the United Nations?
Jaume Olle', January 1998

I was told by Velid Jerlagic of Sarajevo that a very similar flag (though, with "normal" blue field - see below) was proposed as a flag for Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1991, by some Serb party, but was rejected for the white one by SDA (Alija Izetbegovic's Muslem party). I guess that this is not any special flag, only a version of the current national flag (home-made?).
I don't believe that this is the flag of Bihac nor Una-Sana County (of which Bihac is capital). Una-Sana County has the coat of arms that is heavily based on green with many islamic symbols. I would rather expect that the flag would follow the line, but I have no info on the flag yet.
Željko Heimer, 2 January 1998

[Proposal with blue field]
image by Velid-aga Jerlagic

This flag was proposed for Bosnia and Herzegovina flag by the SDA party (designed by a professional team) in 1991. It was rejected by SDS representatives. Never adopted.
Velid-aga Jerlagic, 13 April 1998

According to Mirza Hasan C'eman, a member of BH Flag and Arms 1991-1992 Expert Committee (his article: Grb i zastava Republike Bosne i Hercegovine in Muslimanski glas 25. August 1992; source: book by Safet Halilovic', Restitucija bosanske državnosti, Zenica, March 1993) all three colors of flag were proposed by the Committee in this order:
1. (1991) Committee could not reconstruct the color of medieval Bosnian flag and they supposed it was white.
2. (1991) Committee decided to reduplicate the color of the shiled and Royal blue became the color of the flag. (see second flag above).
3. (1991) Committee decided to separate the color of the flag and to make it light blue (Sky blue) (see first flag above)
4. (May 1992) Because of similarity with UN flag color the Committee decided to use white color and it was finaly accepted (official flag 1992-1998).
Amer Sulejmanagic', 23 May 2009


BDU Party Proposal

[Triband proposal]
image by Velid-aga Jerlagic

This flag was proposed for the flag of Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina after the first pluralistic elections. It was proposd by BDU, the Bosnian Democratic Union, a party that stayed insignificant till present day. Never adopted.
Velid-aga Jerlagic, 13 April 1998


Proposal used by the Defenders of Sarajevo


image by Anes Sadikovic, 18 October 2000

There was one more proposal, and actually it was used by some defenders of Sarajevo before the official 1992 flag was declared.
I draw the flag according to my memory, so I am not sure about exact number of stripes, proportion or the size of fleur de lis's. 
Interesting, the flag had both leur de lis motive and pan-Slavic WBR colors.
Anes Sadikovic, 18 October 2000