The current flag of Kazakhstan was adopted on June 4, 1992. It consists of a sky-blue background, with a steppe eagle beneath a golden sun with 33 rays in the centre, and a web-like pattern running down the left-hand side.
The pattern represents the art and cultural traditions of the old khanate and the kazakh people. The light blue background stands for the various Turkic peoples that make up the present-day population of the country, including the Tatars, Mongols, Uyghurs and others. Among these peoples blue has a religious significance, representing the sky god Gök-Tanry, "the eternal wide blue sky"; a more modern interpretation is that the sky blue background stands for Kazakhstan's broad skies, and for freedom.
The golden eagle is associated with the empire of Genghis Khan, who ruled Kazakhstan under a blue banner with such an eagle on it; thus, it is a reminder of the proud history of the people who form the modern nation of Kazakhstan.