Why did Turkey change its name?

A man stands holding a Turkish flag as people visit the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the first president of Turkey, on May 19 – Photo: CNN

Changing the name of a country is, of course, a big deal and not very common. However, with 4 countries officially changing their names in the past 4 years, it seems that this is gradually becoming less “shocking”. There are a number of reasons for countries to change their names, either politically, historically, or to assert and protect national identity.

Efforts from the 1980s

This is not the first time Turkey wants to change its name. In the mid-1980s, the government of prime minister Turgut Ozal tried to do this but was unsuccessful. Incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is back with that plan more aggressively.

From December 2021, Mr. Erdogan explained in a government memorandum on renaming the country: “Türkiye is the best expression of the culture, civilization and values ​​of the Turkish people.” . Similarly, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said the name change “increases the value of the country’s brand”.

This change may also have something to do with Mr. Erdogan’s obvious frustration when the name of his country is “sticked” to a turkey (English is “turkey”) – a traditional North American dish in the Middle East. Thanksgiving occasion. When you search for the word “turkey” with an image on Google, the screen is immediately flooded with turkeys and only a few Turkish flags and a portrait of Erdogan.

Mr. Erdogan’s frustration must not stop there. When looking up the word “turkey” in the Cambridge English dictionary, one finds two definitions in the noun section that can “heat up” many Turks with the connotation of “something failed badly” and ” a fool”.

The name change may come as a surprise to anyone but to the Turks. The name Türkiye (pronounced “turkey” but with the addition of “yay”) has been the name of the country since 1923 after Turkish independence.

Mr. Erdogan stated that the name Türkiye was used in official documents of ministries as well as all activities and press in the country. For example, all exports will be labeled “Made in Türkiye”, and the government’s tourism stimulus campaign in January 2022 began using the slogan “Hello Türkiye”.

However, since the letter “ü” is not in the English alphabet, which is widely spoken internationally, it is unclear how long it will take for the name “Türkiye” to become as popular as the name “Turkey”.

Previously, after the Czech Republic changed to Czechia in 2016, although some international organizations used the new name, many places still used the old name when referring to this country. Even Turkey’s TRT World (English) radio station has used the name Türkiye, but sometimes its journalists are still “dubbed” to Turkey as a habit that has not been easily changed.

Why change name?

In the comments of observers, there are opinions that agree with the reasons given by the Turkish Government. “The main reason why Turkey changed its name was to remove the reference to the turkey,” said Sinan Ulgen, president of the EDAM think tank in Istanbul. He also predicted to the public that the move from Turkey to Türkiye would take many years to get used to.

But Francesco Siccardi, a senior program manager at the Carnegie European Institute, believes there is a political motive to the name change.

This is “another strategy by the Turkish government to reach out to nationalist voters in a pivotal year for Turkish politics,” he commented to CNN, referring to the date of re-election. Erdogan’s election next year.

“The decision to change the name was announced last December when President Erdogan was experiencing low approval ratings and Turkey was going through one of the worst economic crises in 20 years,” said Siccardi. “. However, Mr. Sinan Ulgen believes that the name change has more to do with the strategy of promoting the country’s position than for political purposes.