Turkey changes international name to ‘Türkiye’

Turkey (Turkey) officially changed its name to Türkiye at the United Nations – Photo: GOOGLE MAPS

According to the newspaper New York Timesthis is the biggest effort of the administration of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to let the world call their country’s name in Turkish.

Türkiye is pronounced tur-kee-yeh. This name is not new to the Turkish people, as they have been using it since the founding of the country in 1923.

However, the “Anglicized” spelling and reading of Türkiye’s “Turkey” is equally common. Many Turkish people believe that calling in English has a negative connotation.

The campaign to change the country’s name at the United Nations has been launched by the Erdogan government since December 2021.

“The process we started, under the leadership of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to enhance the brand value of our country has been completed,” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Twitter.

In a letter to United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Cavusoglu wrote: “I solemnly inform you about the use of the word ‘Türkiye’ abroad and the branding strategy, Government of the Republic of Turkiye. will begin to use ‘Türkiye’ to replace words such as ‘Turkey’, ‘Turkei’ and ‘Turquie’ that were used in the past to refer to the ‘Republic of Turkiye'”.

“Türkiye is the best representation and expression of the culture, civilization and values ​​of the Turkish people,” Erdogan said at the launch of the campaign to change the name late last year.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the United Nations had accepted the change, and the decision took effect as soon as it received a request from Ankara, according to CNN.

“Countries are free to choose how they want to be named,” Dujarric said.

“This is an attempt to demonstrate to the Turkish public at home and the Turks living in Germany and other European countries that Mr. politics of the country”, Professor Mustafa Aksakal, working at Georgetown University (USA), commented.