Last modified: 2023-06-03 by zachary harden
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image by Jan Oskar Engene, 9 January 2005
The flag is reported in the League of Nations Official Journal in a report by
the Straits Commission. The Straits Commission was an international body set up
by the Straits Convention, a part of the Treaty of Lausanne peace settlement, to
regulate navigation through the Dardanelles and Bosporus. The eight man
Commission started its work in October 1924 and continued to function until
Turkey regained full control over the Straits by the Montreux Convention signed
in 1936.
Towards the end of the "First Report by the Straits Commission for the Year
1925", published in League of Nations Official Journal, Vol. 7, 1926, p. 957,
mention is made of a flag. The Commission writes: "The Commission thought it
might be desirable for it to possess a flag of its own, like the two
International Danube Commissions, to designate its headquarters, and, if
necessary indicate the presence of its members when on an official mission in
the Straits. It therefore adopted a model flag (two gold tridents crossed on a
dark blue field), the designing of which the President and Turkish Delegate
himself undertook to have carried out." The report then goes on to describe a
"flag incident" arising from the Turkish government's objection to the raising
of the flag, a position which was headed by the Commission's President and the
local staff. However, the report also states that the Commission passed a vote
of censure against the president because the flag had been adopted by correct
procedure. The report does not say anything further about the use of the flag,
nor are details as to the design of the tridents revealed. I have made an
attempt at drawing the "model" flag to be considered as a tentative recreation
until we have further evidence.
Jan Oskar Engene, 7 December 2004
What appears to be a contemporary drawing of this flag can be found in the
German navy Flaggenbuch (1926). In this book
the flag is
labelled Meerengenkommission. The proportions of the flag as drawn in the Flaggenbuch (1926)
are approximately 3:4.
Jan Oskar Engene, 9 January 2005