Turkey officially changed the country’s name

The move is seen as part of Turkey’s efforts to rename the country and separate the country’s name from the bird, Turkey and some related negative connotations (Turkey in English is turkey).

Anadolu news agency reported that Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the Secretary-General United Nations Antonio Guterres, confirmed receipt of the letter late on June 1. Mr Dujarric said the name change was in effect “from the moment” the letter was received.

The government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has pressed to change the internationally recognized name “Turkey” to “Türkiye” (tur-key-YAY) because it is spelled and pronounced in Turkish. The country called itself “Türkiye” in 1923 after declaring its independence.

In December last year, President Erdogan ordered the use of “Türkiye” to better represent Turkish culture and values, including requiring the use of “Made in Türkiye” instead of “Made in” Turkey” on export products. Turkish ministries began using “Türkiye” in official documents.

Earlier this year, the government also released a promotional video as part of an effort to change the country’s English name. The video shows tourists from all over the world saying “Hello Türkiye” at popular destinations.

Communication Department of the Office Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said it had launched a campaign “to promote the more effective use of ‘Türkiye’ as the country’s national and international name on international platforms”.

It is unclear whether the name “Türkiye”, with a letter that does not exist in the English alphabet, would be widely available abroad. In 2016, the Czech Republic officially registered its initials as Czechia. While some international organizations use Czechia, many still refer to the country by its longer name: the Czech Republic.

Turkey’s state-run English-language television channel TRT World has switched to using “Türkiye”. TRT World explained the decision in an article earlier this year, saying that a Google search for “Turkey” results in “a jumble of related images, articles and definitions.” came to the country with Meleagris – also known as turkey, a large bird native to North America – often a staple on Christmas or Thanksgiving menus.”

TRT World continues: “A glance at the Cambridge dictionary shows that ‘turkey’ is defined as ‘something that fails badly’ or ‘a stupid or silly person’.

TRT World argues that Turks prefer their country to be called “Türkiye”, because it is “fit for the purpose of the country to determine how other people identify it”.