The crescent, the star and the blood

A common view in Turkey, that invariably strikes the new visitor, is the large amount of national flags, of every size and in every occasion, waving on poles, flagstaffs, houses, official buildings and even from car or shop windows.
It is easy to understand that it is a symbol of National pride and unity, but it should be noted the many reasons of disagreement and divide that Turks do have on almost every issue, to appreciate how important a symbol can be for the country.
The flag has controversial, yet undisputably ancient origins.
Whatever are its origins, they are deeply rooted in Turkey' history: the crescent was the symbol of Byzantium, from the lunar goddess Artemis, and then it became the mark of Constantinople. In ancient Persia, source of most of the islamic Ottoman culture, crescents were used extensively in symbolism, and in the Altai region, from which the turkic tribes came to Anatolia, crescent and star were magic symbols. Red was a sacred color for the turkic nomads, and also the color of Roman Empire, the official name of the byzantine state.
The modern flag seems to merge all of these traditions.
A legendary tale claims its origin to the battle of Manzikert, the turning-point of the long struggle between the declining Byzantine empire and the raising turkic sultanate. The seljuk sultan, Alp Arslan, wandering on the battlefield after the costly victory, saw the crescent moon and a star reflected in a pool of blood, as a projection of the future greatness achieved through the slaughter. It's telltale that an apocryphal legend sets the story in Atatürk's time, at a battle of the war of Independence: any achievement costs blood and sacrifice, and must be preserved for the future. Whatever their religious way, political opinion or football team is, any individual Turk will agree on this principle, and show his flag to remark it.
A remarkable way, indeed.