Archive · 2009 · From the print edition of Wednesday 30 September 2009, Vol. 17, No. 5,181
NewsTwo horses under one roof: the Mejlis picks an emblem
The new State Emblem shows a Chongtor and an Akyel rearing toward the crown of a yurt. The Kurultai was not asked.
TALAS — The Mejlis yesterday adopted a State Emblem for the ISEZ, amending the State Symbols Act of 1993. The circular emblem shows the tündük, the crown of a yurt, against the sky with two horses rearing toward it, inside a crimson ring that carries the country's name in Latin and Cyrillic letters, the Pole Star, the inverted horseshoe of the Fallen Rider and the words "be free" in Orkhon letters.
The two horses are of Irad's two native breeds, a compact Chongtor for the mountains and a long-legged Akyel for the valleys, and the act requires that "the two breeds be distinguishable". They were drawn by a working group at the art college from life studies. The tündük, the deputy who presented the design said, stands for "one roof over all the people of Irad".
The emblem will appear on passports and residence cards, on the acts of the Mejlis and on the seals of the courts and ministries, replacing the roundel of the flag used since 2007. It will not be used in the Autonomous Tribal Regions, and the Kurultai, which approved the Toktogul protocol last month, was not consulted.
A writer close to the Iradi Freedom Society said the emblem was "a picture of a treaty". In the gallery an elder from Kara-Buura was more generous. "Two horses under one roof," he said. "Let us see if they can share the hay."