Editing Star and crescent (section)

====Use in the Ottoman Empire====
{{further information|Flags of the Ottoman Empire}}
[[File:TurkischeHauptArmeeHochenleitterBGHistory.jpg|thumb|The [[Military of the Ottoman Empire|Ottoman Army]] approaching the city of [[Sofia]] in 1788.]]
{{multiple image
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| image1            = Flag of the Ottoman Empire (1844–1922).svg
| image2            = Flag of the Ottoman Empire (eight pointed star).svg
| direction         = vertical
| footer            = Star-and-crescent flags of the [[Ottoman Empire]]. The first was used as the naval ensign and state symbol from the late 18th century, and as the official Ottoman national flag from 1844 to 1922; the second, is an [[Octagram|eight-pointed]] variant of the first, used after 1844.
}}

The adoption of star and crescent as the Ottoman state symbol started during the reign of [[Mustafa III]] (1757–1774) and its use became well-established during the periods of [[Abdul Hamid I]] (1774–1789) and [[Selim III]] (1789–1807).<ref name="islamencyclopedia">{{cite book |title=İslâm Ansiklopedisi |url=http://www.islamansiklopedisi.info/dia/ayrmetin.php?idno=040298 |location=Istanbul |publisher=Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı |page=298 |volume=4 |date=1991 |language=tr}}</ref>
A decree (''{{lang|tr|buyruldu}}'') from 1793 states that the ships in the [[Ottoman navy]] fly that flag, and various other documents from earlier and later years mention its use.<ref name="islamencyclopedia" /> 
The ultimate source of the emblem is unclear. It is mostly derived from the star-and-crescent symbol used by the city of [[Constantinople]] in antiquity, possibly by association with the crescent design (without the star) used in Turkish flags since before 1453.<ref>"It seems possible, though not certain, that after the conquest Mehmed took over the crescent ''and'' star as an emblem of sovereignty from the Byzantines. The half-moon alone on a blood red flag, allegedly conferred on the Janissaries by Emir Orhan, was much older, as is demonstrated by numerous references to it dating from before 1453. But since these flags lack the star, which along with the half-moon is to be found on Sassanid and Byzantine municipal coins, it may be regarded as an innovation of Mehmed. It seems certain that in the interior of Asia tribes of Turkish nomads had been using the half-moon alone as an emblem for some time past, but it is equally certain that crescent and star ''together'' are attested only for a much later period. There is good reason to believe that old Turkish and Byzantine traditions were combined in the emblem of Ottoman and, much later, present-day Republican Turkish sovereignty." Franz Babinger (William C. Hickman Ed., Ralph Manheim Trans.), ''Mehmed the Conqueror and His Time'', Princeton University Press, 1992, p 108</ref>

With the [[Tanzimat]] reforms in the 19th century, flags were redesigned in the style of the European armies of the day. The flag of the Ottoman Navy was made red, as red was to be the flag of secular institutions and green of religious ones. As the reforms abolished all the various flags (standards) of the Ottoman [[pashalik]]s, [[bey]]liks and [[emirate]]s, a single new Ottoman national flag was designed to replace them. The result was the red flag with the white crescent moon and star, which is the precursor to the modern [[flag of Turkey]]. A plain red flag was introduced as the [[civil ensign]] for all Ottoman subjects.
The white crescent with an eight-pointed star on a red field is depicted as the flag of a "Turkish Man of War" in Colton's ''Delineation of Flags of All Nations'' (1862). Steenbergen's ''{{lang|nl|Vlaggen van alle Natiën}}'' of the same year shows a six-pointed star. A plate in ''Webster's Unabridged'' of 1882 shows the flag with an eight-pointed star labelled "Turkey, Man of war". The five-pointed star seems to have been present alongside these variants from at least 1857.

In addition to Ottoman imperial insignia, symbols appear on the flag of [[Flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina#Western Herzegovina 1760 flag|Bosnia Eyalet]] (1580–1867) and [[Bosnia Vilayet]] (1867–1908), as well as the [[Flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina#Bosnian Revolt of 1830s flag|flag of 1831 Bosnian revolt]], while the symbols appeared on some representations of [[Coat of arms of Bosnia and Herzegovina#Historic arms|medieval Bosnian coat of arms]] too.

In the late 19th century, "Star and Crescent" came to be used as a metaphor for Ottoman rule in British literature.<ref>e.g. A. Locher, [[iarchive:withstarandcres01lochgoog|"With Star and Crescent: A Full and Authentic Account of a Recent Journey with a Caravan from Bombay to Constantinople"; Andrew Haggard, "Under Crescent and Star" (1895).]]</ref>  The increasingly ubiquitous fashion of using the star and crescent symbol in the ornamentation of Ottoman mosques and minarets led to a gradual association of the symbol with Islam in general in western [[Orientalism]].<ref>"Mosque and minaret are surmounted by crescents; the air glowing over the Golden Horn is, as it were, full of moons." [[Hezekiah Butterworth]], ''Zigzag journeys in the Orient'' vol. 3 (1882), p. 481.</ref> The "Red Crescent" emblem was used by volunteers of the [[International Committee of the Red Cross]] (ICRC) as early as 1877 during the [[Russo-Turkish War]]; it was officially adopted in 1929.

After the foundation of the [[Republic of Turkey]] in 1923, the new Turkish state maintained the last flag of the [[Ottoman Empire]]. Proportional standardisations were introduced in the Turkish Flag Law ({{langx|tr|Türk Bayrağı Kanunu}}) of May 29, 1936.
Besides the most prominent example of [[Turkey]] (see [[Flag of Turkey]]), a number of other Ottoman successor states adopted the design during the 20th century, including the [[Emirate of Cyrenaica]] and the [[Kingdom of Libya]], [[Algeria]], [[Tunisia]], and the proposed [[Arab Islamic Republic]].