The Kyrgyz president’s press service said on December 22 the Kyrgyzstan will partially change the design on the country's national flag, with a corresponding law signed by President of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Japarov.

According to the president’s press service, the law on amendments to the country’s law “On State Symbols of the Kyrgyz Republic” was reportedly adopted in order to improve one of the main state symbols of Kyrgyzstan: the country's flag.

The adopted law changed the shape of the sun's rays on the flag of Kyrgyzstan from wavy to straight.

The law also stipulates that all types of official documents with the image of the State Flag of Kyrgyzstan are valid until the expiration of their validity period, and vehicle license plates and vehicle registration certificates with the image of the national flag are valid until the relevant authority makes a decision on their replacement. 

Kyrgyzstan's flag, adopted in 1992 after the Soviet collapse, currently features a yellow orb -- representing a traditional nomadic yurt -- against a red background, surrounded by lines emanating from the center.

DW says parliament speaker Nurlanbek Shakiev in November, put forward a bill to change the emblem in order to make those lines "clearly reminiscent of sun rays".

Supporters of the change, including President Sadyr Japarov, reportedly argued that the current design too closely resembled a sunflower, and that this had kept Kyrgyzstan from fulfilling its potential as a "developed and independent" state.

"There was a public opinion that our flag resembled a sunflower, and in this context the country could not get up from its knees," Japarov said in October.

"There were even cases of foreigners coming to visit us, saying that probably sunflowers grew in large quantities in our republic," he added.