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image by Željko Heimer, 11 June 2000
See also:
Municipalities:
This site <www.uskanton.org>
contains the abstract from the 18th session of the cantonal
parliament, held on 9 May 2000. The relevant part states:
"The Parliament Commision for the choice of the new cantonal
symbols determined the preference for the proposed variant
A. After a discussion one delegate called for this proposal
also. After the Government commision for the choice of the
cantonal symbols [is that the same one? Seems not. Note ZH]
reduced the offered possibilities from three to two, the
parliament delegates elected by a public vote a variant B as the
official symbols of the Una-Sana Canton - the coat of arms and
the flag. [coat of arms, blue, three stars, walls and two
"rivers", flag: BWG w/coat of arms offset. Note ZH]
Željko Heimer , 14 May 2000
From the proposal as appeared at <www.uskanton.org>:
Variant B
Description of the design for the coat of arms and the flag of
USC:
The ideas behind the coat of arms and the flag of USC are
stylization of the geographic and historical characteristics of
the canton that are the most expressed or dominating either by
its position or frequency in this region. To fullfil the request
of easier reproduction in different aplications and materials the
elements are maximally simplyfied and show only the most basic
reconginizable details. Also, the choice and number of the
colours is minimized, bearing in mind to retain the
recognizability and authencity even in monochromatic
representation.
The coat of arms consists of three recognizable elements that
have symbolic and meaning in territorial determination, the
cultural and historic herritage, the three ethnical grous, the
number of the communities and they economically and politically
determine the canton. The three golden-yellow stars represent the
ethnical groups symbolizing the representation of the three
poples in the canton area, while their eight points symbolize
their equality and constitutivness in all of the eight
communities. The stylized fort as the arms element pictures the
cultural and the historical herritage of the canton. Even of they
are not the oldest characteristics telling about this region,
they are by far the most frequent. So, the symbol of the fort
comes from their representativness and frequency in the complete
territory of the canton. In them one can see the stability,
hardness, tradition. For their perion are linked many important
heistorical events. Also, with their shape, the enclosed (walled)
arcitechture they define the inner region, symbolizing the
cantonal borders. On the upper edge there are eight embattlements
symbolically for the eight communities. There are open doors in
the fort, reminding on the economical and political determination
of the canton seen in it openness, free flow of people, ideas,
merchandise and capital. The two winding stripes in the lower
part of the coat of arms symbolize the rivers Una and Sana that
form the dominant geographical element providing the territorial
determination of the region.
The flag of the canton is made as tricolour with the same coat of
arms set 60 cm from the hoist, noting that the staff diameter and
the flag material encompassing it are not counted in the basic
and shown flag dimensions. [So - what the flag looks like? From
the image, it's blue over white over gree tricolour with offset
CoA]
Željko Heimer, 25 April and 6 May 2000
After the decision of the High Representative on the ban of
all non-neutral and offensive symbols in 1999, the old
(1997) flag was invalidated. It seems that in USC that
decision was respected both legaly and practically, differing
from some other cantons that had, or still have no will to obey
it. So, effectively, the Canton was without symbols during the
1999/2000.
In December 1999 the Canton made a concourse for a new flag and
coat of arms. Out of 28 proposals that arrived there were three
that were chosen into further consideration and for public
debate. They were published also on the Net, at <www.uskanton.org>. In May
2000 the variant that is effectively the
"neutralization" of the previous symbols was adopted.
In the blue shield there is a white embatteled wall (with eight
embattlements) with entrance and windows, above it three golden
eightpointed stars, representing the three nations and eight
communities, and below are two green "twisted ribbons",
representing the rivers Una and Sana. The shield is bordered with
white within a golden border.
The flag is horizontal tricolour of the colours from the coat of
arms, now of stripes of equal width, blue over white over green.
The coat of arms is set in it, offset twoards hoist for better
visibility. The coat of arms is entering the blue and the green
stripe for 1/3 of the width of each, i.e. the hight of the shield
is 5/9 of the flag width. The length from the hoist of the coat
of arms axis is 3/5 of the hoist
size. Ratio of the flag is 1:2.
Similary as with previous symbols, it is hard to determine what
are the exact colour shades. Also, the ratio of the coat of arms
seems to be different in the sources (and in the same source on
two images).
The laws regulating the new symbols are:
(a) Zakon o grbu i zastavi Unsko-sanskog kantona, 9. maja 2000.
(b) Zakon o upotrebi grba i zastave Unsko-sanskog kantona, 31.
maja 2000.
Both are quoted from the text of proposals that were adopted,
since they are not yet published in the official gazette (no
doubt, only because of the short time resons). The text of the
law (a) contains additionally some explanations on law changes
and reasoning behind prepaired for the members of the Cantonal
Assembly. (all the important and interesting details from those
ared included in this material).
Both laws are more or less adapted versions of the previous laws
- so all the interesting and notworth deatils said about previous
flag are valid for this one, too. So, it is prescribed also as
the war flag, and could be used as basis for military unit,
command and rank flags. Also, when hoisted vertically, the blue
stipe should be to the right (the same ambiguity on what that
mean remains!).
Both laws are legaly valid on the next day after the issue in the
official gazette (so, they are not valid as yet, it seems, but I
guess that there is little practical meaning in this). They
invalidate the previous laws (though they were practically
invalidated by the decision of HR).
Željko Heimer, 11 June 2000
usk.gif)
image by Željko Heimer, 11 June 2000
We have learned recently the status of the adoption process for the new flag and coat of arms for Una-Sana Canton of B&H, as it was published on the government of USC site at <www.uskanton.org>. Here is the USC decision:
"18/02/2000 - USC Government Session - Proposal of the
Law for official blazon and flag of the Una-Sana Canton
According to the OHR Decision that USC official symbols contains
elements that are offensive for some B&H constitutional
nationality members, USC Government launched the procedure for
new cantonal symbols. Commission which was appointed on this task
received 28 proposals as respond on newspapers announcement for
making new symbols. The Commission chose three of them and placed
them to the Government. The Commission President, cantonal
Minister for justice and governing, reminded that OHR stopped the
usage of all the B&H cantonal symbols except the one of the
Sarajevo Canton. The reason for this was in offensive content for
some constitutional nations.
Cantonal Minister for work and social policy noticed that this
act was proceeded through achieving the brand new Law for the
cantonal blazon and flag, what is wrong, because the act
would have been satisfying if it had looked for changing an
existed Law. Second remark was for unnecessary seeking for brand
new symbols, because it would have been enough if the old ones
had changed according to the OHR Decision. The Commission
president for this issue reminded that the Prime Minister of USC
Government asked for the definition of the offensive elements
from the OHR, but he received no answer. That was the reason for
going on with choosing the new symbols.
Government made a Decision to go with Proposal of urgent
resolving of this Law deliverance, towards the Assembly, which
means not to go with Draft but directly with Proposal. Last three
symbol-solutions will be in the Proposal, so the Cantonal
Assembly will decide for one of them."
The first working issue of the formally defined Sixteenth
Assembly Session was Proposal for the new Law about Cantonal
blazon and flag, that was posted to the Assembly by the Cantonal
Ministry for Justice and Governing to be resolved through short
procedure, containing three concrete drawings. After long
discussion about the look of posted drawings and numerous and
different standards which should present the frame for this kind
of work, the majority of delegates decided to put this law in
draft form and to pass it through the regular procedure. It was
decided to make another Evaluation Commission which will,
together with Government Commission, do the election among all of
28 drawings that were received upon the Concurs. For this
Commission the followings are suggested; Kresimir Izakovic (is
not Assembly member), Ratko Dubajic, Muhamed Skrgic, Rasid Duric
(is not Assembly member), Zlatko Dizdarevic, Causevic Meho (is
not Assembly member), Emric Sead (is not Assembly member) i Bahro
Jusic (is not Assembly member). All of suggested non Assembly
members are professional artists. It was also emphasized that by
adopting this law in the Draft form the delegates also adopted
the attitude of Government's Commission which prefers the three
posted drawings discussed on this Session. The new Commission
should therefore regard this attitude.
Continuing with the note provided on the site:
" The Public opinion pool about Cantonal symbols launched on
<www.uskanton.org>
will be continued according to delay of final decision about the
Cantonal symbols until the next Assembly Session which was planed
for the end of the march. The results will be posted to the
Assembly Speaker."
At the moment when I was looking at the site, the prefference was
toward variant B (110 votes), followed by variant C (72 votes)
and variant A (30 votes). The pool is, of course, of informative
character only,
On its session on 22 April 2000, it was reported regarding the flag issue like this:
"The Government Commision for the choice of the new coat of arms and flag of the USC made upgrade of the law regarding the cantonal symbols, and thus published the new preference containing two proposals, in stead of the three prefered until now and given to cantonal assembly. These are variant 1 and variant 2, while the variant 3, under codename "Japodic rider" is eliminated from further choice proceidure, allthough the design remains property of the Government of USC."
Here are the proposals:
image by Blas Delgado Ortiz, 7 April 2001
us!1.gif)
Description of the design for the coat of arms and the flag of
USC
1) The coat of arms of USC According with point 3 of the
announced concourse of 24 December 1999 in "Unsko-sanske
novine", the design of the coat of arms of the USC is made
in black & white and in colour. The proposed design is in
accordance with requests from the point 3 of the announced
concourse containing this characteristics: a) historical b)
natural c) national
Historical charateristics:
Through its long history, thanks to its geographic and geotrafic
position, the region of the USC represented a LINK, a BINDING - a
BRIDGE between the East and the West. On the proposed esign this
historical characteristic is symbolized by a bridge above rivers
Una and Sana representing: - the symbol of binding of the USC
with the other parts of B&H, - the symbol of binding of the
USC with its neighbours and other parts of the world, - the
symbol of the traditional friendship, - the symbol of the
traditional good relationship with neighbours, - As another
important historical characteristic is in upper part of the coat
of arms the diagonal white stripe that reminds on the mideval
coat of arms of Bosnian state.
Natural characteristics:
In the proposed design of the coat of arms of the USC the natural
characteristics are represnted by the rivers of Una and Sana, the
two rivers that naturally mark the USC territory [the two rivers
form almost western and easter border of the canton in most of
their float]. In the given design the two rivers are draining
into common bed, symbolizing the whole region of the USC.
National characteristics:
As in the region of the USC there are living three equally
rightful peoples, i.e. the Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs, they are
represented in the upper part of the coat of ars with the colours
those peoples have in their national flags (green, white, red).
The upper triangular area (in arms' chief) is green symbolizing
the Bosniaks, while the lower triangular field is in red and
white that both Croats and Serbs have in their national flags, so
symbolizing the Croats and Serbs. However, as both Croats and
Serbs have in their national flags also the blue field, it is
equally valid at will to replace the red field with the blue one,
retaining the symbolic. [I.e. it is proposed another design -
replacing red with blue!] Beside that, in the upper triangular
field reminding on the heartlike shape of the B&H state,
there are inserted three blue stars representing and symbolizing
the three peoples living in the territory of the USC.
2. The flag of USC According to the propsed design, the flag of
the USC is composed of three colours that the three poeples
living in the territoy of USC have in their national flags, i.e.
the green, white and red. The upper horizontal stripe is green,
representing the Bosniaks, while the middle stripe is white and
lower one is red, the two representing the Serbs and the Croats.
Considering that both Croats and Serbs in their national flags
also use blue, it is given possibility that at will the lower red
stripe is replaced with blue one retaining the symbolic. In the
middle of the flag is the coat of arms of USC. The ratio of the
flag is 1:2.
Variant B (Adopted - see above)
us!3.gif)
Description of the design for the coat of arms and the flag of
USC
[Note: as it shall be seen from the description, at least one
colour - green - is misrepresented on the images provided on <www.uskanton.org> possibly
other colours are "shifted" too, but they are not given
in description.]
Description of the coat of arms under codename "Iapodic
rider" .The curent research and found remains of the
material culture prove that the USC is settled sincethe Stone
Age. The presence of the tribe of Iapods in these regions is
proven since VII century BCE. Among the greates pictoral artistic
achievments is counted the stone vase called "Iapodic
riders". The love towards horses remained one of the treads
connecting the inhabitants of the USC throughout the centuries
since Iapodic time until today.
The shape of the shield itself, with the three embattlements,
symbolize the three constitutiove and equal peoples of the USC.
The Iapodic rider represent the history and culture of the USC.
The feather in his hand is symbol of the strougle and wish for
learning and knowlege (a feather is mightier then the sword).
The eightsided shield symbolize the firmness and interlinkage of
the eight communities of the USC.
The wavy lines of green and blue represent the rivers of Una and
Sana between which the canton is set (white).
The stars around the rivers are symbols of the belonging to the
Republic of B&H and the European community. [what stars? they
are not visible on the image provided by <www.uskanton.org> ,
possibly they are removed from the proposal? BTW, note the wrong
name of the country - B&H does not containg the word Republic
in the official name any more, also EC here is not meant the
community of nations as a whole, not the orgaization of some
Europian nations that is called by the same name]
Description of the flag
The flag is composed of three horizontal rectangles of green,
white and blue. The green and blue are colours representing
rivers Una and Sana, and the white is the colour of the USC
between the two rivers.
Željko Heimer, 25 April and 6 May 2000
image by Željko Heimer, 10 June 2000
I was informed about the flag of Una-Sana canton (the region
of the former "Authonomous Republic
of Western Bosnia"). The flag is horizontally divided
green over white over cyan (or similar greenish-blueish colour),
with middle stripe considerably wider than the other two. In the
middle is the coat of arms of the county - green with stone wall
and trenches, over it 8+3 yellow 8-pointed stars, under it white
book (Kur'an) with yellow sword. Exact size of stripes and coat
of arms unknown. It was shown on Croatian TV (and a friend who
saw it described it for me) while I was away.
Željko Heimer, 21 February 1998
The first Coat of Arms and the flag of the
USC are adopted on 28 July 1997 on the 9th session of the
Cantonal Assembly. The four doccuments issued in the official
gazzete are connected with that, (1) though (4) of sources quoted
below.
The documents (1) and (3) are decisions of USC president
proclaiming the laws (2) and (4), nr. (2) being the law on the
CoA and the flag, and nr. (4) the law on their usage. All four
are issued simultaneously in the same official gazette on three
consequtive pages, but legaly, they are four different documents.
The two "sic!" notes below refer to the incorrect
spelling of the canton name regarding the capitals (they are
misspelled throughot the laws (2) and (4), while in (1) and (3)
are correct).
Article 1 of law (2) defines the CoA is green shield, with 11
golden eightpointed stars in three rows and five colloumns
(following detailed description of their position, but oddly, not
mentioning tha the three stars in sinister column are bigger then
the others). In the middle there is a golden defense wall of
three rows of bricks under which are two blue rivers (stylized as
"trenches" infront of the wall), outlined in gold, a
white book (outlined in gold) and a golden schmitar. The wall,
rivers and the schmitar are said to be in 19 degrees towards
horizontal (though the images I saw do not follow that, as far as
I can tell, but it may be a matter of how one measures the
angle). The shiled is outlined with inner white, and outer golden
border (of the same width). Basically, it is the same with what I
reported earlier, based on the article in "Hrvatski
obzor" .
The symbolic is not refered in the law, but is pretty obvious -
eight smaller stars for eight communities in the Canton, three
bigger stars for the three contitutional nations, three rows of
which is made the defence wall maight also refer to the three
nations, rivers are Una and Sana, the border-rivers of the
Canton, and the it's sake-names, and oriental schmitar and book
(Kur'an). However, the green colour of the field should not only
be connected with Islam, since the two rivers, and especially
Una, is known as the green river due to the green colour of its
waters reflecting the green slopes inbetween wich it flows.
The flag is defined in article 2. The colours in the flag are
based on the colours of the coat of arms, and the design is
influanced maybe by the flags used by Bosniaks during the recent
war. The ratio of the flag is rather unusual 1:1.75 (i.e. 4:7),
and the width of stripes is 1:3:12:3:1. The height of the coat of
arms is half the flag hoist (i.e. 10 units of the previous
ratio), and it is set in the middle of the flag.
The law (4) defines the vertical hoisting - the vertically
hoisted flag should be hoisted so that the green stripe comes on
the right - whatever that actually means - and if it is taken to
mean the most strightforward then it is against the usual
vertical hoisting principle. here is no mention that the CoA
would be "rectified" on such flag, and probably that
was not done. So, to get the vertical variant, only rotate the
horizontal flag 90 degrees clockwise.
Another interesing detail is that the law (4) prescribes this
flag for use by the Army of the Federation, i.e. it can be
considered a war flag, too. There is also a legal definition that
alowes the flag and the coat of arms to be included with military
flags (unit, command and ranks and other flags).
Both laws (2) and (4) came in effect next day after issue in the
official gazette, that is 12 August 1997.
A similar flag was reported by me, as informed by visitors to my
pages, but the report lacked the outermost white stripes. Such
triband ("Spanish style") is an error, as only the
fivestriped flag ("Israeli style") was official, and
probably the only one used.
The blue shade of the rivers and in the flag are reportedly not
the pure blue, buth some kind of "greenish" blue. The
shade I used in my image is closest to the blue used in the
materials I received. The shield shape is also according to the
materials, and even if it looks a bit less elegant then the
previously repoted one, this is probably as official source as we
shall ever get.
By the decision of the High Representative regarding the
displaying and using of the common, neutral and unoffensive
symbols (5), the legal and other acts not complying to it are
invalidated. The implementation instructions of the decision
consider these symbols among such, so the flag is both legaly and
practically abandoned in 1999. In December 1999 the councourse
for the new symbols was published, and after a public debate they
were finally adopted on 9 May 2000.
Sources:
(1) Odluka o proglasenju Zakona o grbu i zastavi Unsko-sanskog
kantona, 4. august 1997, Sluzbeni glasnik USK, br. 2/97, god. I,
Bihac, 11. august 1997, str 13.
(2) Zakon o grbu i zastavi Unsko-Sanskog Kantona (sic!), 28. jula
1997, Sluzbeni glasnik USK, br. 2/97, god. I, Bihac, 11. august
1997, str 13.
(3) Odluka o proglasenju Zakona o upotrebi grba i zastave
Unsko-sanskog kantona, 4. august 1997, Sluzbeni glasnik USK, br.
2/97, god. I, Bihac, 11. august 1997, str 13.
(4) Zakon o upotrebi grba i zastave Unsko-Sanskog Kantona (sic!),
28. jula 1997, Sluzbeni glasnik USK, br. 2/97, god. I, Bihac, 11.
august 1997, str 14-15.
(5) Odluka Visokog predstavnika, Sluzbene novine Federacije BiH,
br. 34/99 (as quoted in explanatory material prepaired for the
adoption of the new symbols)
Željko Heimer, 10 June 2000
usk97.gif)
image by Željko Heimer, 10 June 2000
The extract from article in "Hrvatskai obzor" political weekly magazine, my translation. There is no similarity in the star pattern to word Islam, as claimed in the article. The article provided image of the coat of arms on which is my image based.
HRVATSKI OBZOR, 128/III, Zagreb, 20.09.1997. p.7.
Islamic heraldry
... the lobbies closer to Velika Kladusa, those in Bihac, are trying to get the message of the new (green) coat of arms of Una-Sana County, in which (Abdic's) Velika Kladusa is.
Those familliar with oriental iconography see in the symbolic of the oriental sabre over a book (Kur'an) the spread of Islam and Jihad, and in the irregularly ordered stars, that should among other things symbolize "three constitutive nations (?!) and eight communities in the Canton" - the stillization of the noun written in Arab, right to left - "Islam". If the coat of arms is pleasing to the other two consitutive nations there is no informations. Perhaps it is because Bosniaks have 96 percent of the population of the Canton.
Željko Heimer, 20 September 1997