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The flag of the Ottoman Empire (and later that of Turkey) is called Ay Yıldız which means moon star. Ottoman Empire used many flags through out times. Flags were changed based on the Sultan's title during an event. According to the Republic of Turkey's Presidential Insignia law, the Ottoman Flag was a five point star within the outer circle of the moon. Other flags represented can be reached through Presidential Insignia.
Flags From Ghazi to Emperor (1299-1453)
The Ottomans originally had two "state" flags, one for the imperial domains of the House of Osman, the other for the Sultanate of Rum, which the Osmans ruled.
The flag of the Empire contained a cross with a Kayi clan tamgha, a bow, in each corner. This may seem an odd choice for a Moslem ruler, but at the time he was the declared defender of the Orthadox Christians of his realm, who were actually more worried about the Latins than the Moslems. This flag is actually very similar to the Byzantine flag, save for one difference: The mirrored cyrillic ß's on the Byzantine flag are replaced with Osman tamghas.
While it is often stated that red was chosen as the colour of the Sultanate because it is much favored by Turks. The original Seljuk Sultans of Rum billed themselves as the Moslem successors to the Roman Empire, and their Ottoman successors continued this idea. The popular "Turkish" colour chosen by the various Ghazi states with no Roman pretentions was actually blue, and they liked to add the Seal of Suleyman to their flags.
Flags of the Sublime Porte (1453-1789)
The conquest of Constantinople vastly altered the Ottoman iconography. The Ottomans resurrected an ancient pagan icon of Byzantium (the city Constantinople was built on), the goddess Diana's crescent moon, and adopted it as their own. The crescent was quite popular in Persia, which was the origin of most of the non-Roman Ottoman culture at that point, remarkably similar to the Osman tamgha, and an ancient symbol of the city. It was perfect, and went from obscurity to THE symbol of the Ottoman Empire.
The original flag changed very little, the gold crescent merely makes its appearance for the first time. By the 18th century this began to be flown as a rectangular as opposed to triangular flag, but remained essentially unchanged. The gold is actual gold-woven silk, and in lieu of this white cloth as opposed to yellow-dyed cloth was used, as not everyone can afford such luxury.
With the conquest of Syria and Egypt, a new Imperial flag was needed. The Sultan was no longer a Roman successor in a mostly
Christian land, but the Sultan of Egypt and Caliph of Islam. So the Byzantine cross was removed, and a disc of the colour green, the colour of Islam, was placed upon the imperial flag. The many-crescents motif was maintained, but was reduced to three upon the disc, and now represented the three titles and three continents that the house of Osman ruled over: Egypt in Africa, the Caliphate in Asia, and Rum in Europe.
With control of Constantinople and the Bosphorus came new commercial opportunities and new threats from Venice and Genoa, who feared for their interests and colonies in the Aegean and Black Sea. The Ottomans felt the need for a strong navy and merchant marine, and instituted a number of reforms. These included naval identifiers, including command, and a set of merchant flags based on religion, each of which was treated differently by the legal system. The naval system also had flags for individual ships and commanders, but those could not be considered to be "Ottoman" flags.
Jews and Christians of the empire subjected to one more tax. However as "Romans", the Orthadox Christians had certain rights and privaledges that the Catholics did not, and for religious reasons Jews were the only people who could engage in certain financial activities.
The Catholics had the worst deal, since they were taxed as heavily as the other non-moslems, without any of the benefits or privaledges. This wasn't that much of a source of discontent however, as most of the mercantilistic Catholic subjects of the Ottoman Empire lived under their own administration in the Republic of Ragusa. Only a few struggling Albanian merchants from Dürres or (later on) Croatians from Split fell under this category.
Reform and Decline (1789-1923)
The flag of the Ottoman navy was made red as red was to be the flag of secular institutions and green of religious ones, following the New Order reforms. All religious institutions were "spun-off" and while the Emperor remained Caliph and retained religious roles, the Sultanate secularized itself. The Navy went through radical modernization reforms, but nothing compared to the army.
The Army was completely restructured. The Jannissaries were disbanded and many of them were killed as they resisted modernization. This came of course with a new flag design, without the colour, religious overtones, and excess of the Janissaries.
Furthering the New Order reforms, the Empire was centralized and all the various sub-Sultanates, Pashaliks, Beyliks and Emirates were abolished, including the Sultanate of Rum. And so a new flag was designed to replace both the Sultanate of Rum and Ottoman Empire flags. The result is the flag we know as the modern Turkish flag (see top).
Secularization made the religions equal under law, doing away with the complex heirarchy of religions in relation to taxation and mercantile persuits, so a plain red flag was made the civil flag for all Ottoman subjects.
Following the fall of the Ottoman Empire and rise of the Turkish Republic, the flag remained the same.
Myths
Because the flag has a complex origin, many myths have been generated over the centuries to explain the significance of the flag. Some anectodes tell that the present design is the result of an aftermath scene of a bloody field battle with reflections of moon over blood, besides some people build a thesis upon a wish to claim the Roman succession.
Also, there is another struggle about the color red. Some say it is a Turkish color, some claim that it is Roman. That struggle is the same on the symbols front; crescent and star are no subject of share.
At first, blue is more dominant in colors of Turkish arts until Ottoman dynasty. However, Ottomans were the grandsons of the "KAYI" clan of Turks. Their flag was white with a yellow kayi clan sign. For more than a hundred years, this white flag with several other horsehair pennants (tug) did the representation job. A time about the sixth padishah's (ruler) reign, color red with the crescents adopted, but the old one was not become obsolete.
Infact, Ottoman Empire represented itself in anywhere with four flag generally. White and Red ones mentioned above, Green flag is harder to date but added some time near to the Red flag, symbolising the Reign and Ruler together. Last addition is the yellow one. Yellow means center in the Turkish color symbolism.
Hundreds of years life of an empire ended with the birth of a new country, and one of the beloved flags was chosen, same as the last choice of the empire.
As a result, trying to explain the whole process with a few words would be childish. Cultures affected each other apparently for years throughout the world. Examining a culture of an empire generally result as the pieces of those what it absorbed. Final design of the flag carries the present country's culture, its history.
Turkish people still think that it is the color of the blood that is on the flag, shed to win their homeland and their liberty.
Personal Standard of the Sultan
The imperial banners displayed the sultan's tughra, often on a pink or bright red background. The religious colour of Islam is green, and many Ottoman flags were dark green. Sometimes it was just a plain green flag, sometimes the moon and star were painted in white and sometimes in yellow. Many royal banners picture the legendary Zulfikar sword. As of 1862 the flag of the sultan was green with seven thin, red, horizontal lines.
Flag Poles
The flagpoles were often decorated by a cresent, a wolf head, a horse tail or a Qur'an box. In addition, banners were always accompanied by a number of smaller flags, pennants, icons and various other items with symbolic meaning (for example, the Janissaries used to parade with their cauldrons).