No more fowl play: Why Turkey officially changed its name to Türkiye

The flag of Türkiye. Getty

What’s in a name?

Apparently a lot if you ask Turkey – sorry Türkiye now.

The campaign to change the name to Türkiye (tur-key-YAY), which kicked off in in December, culminated on Wednesday with the United Nations giving its assent to the change.

Anadolu Agency said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, confirmed receipt of the letter late Wednesday.

The agency quoted Dujarric as saying that the name change had become effective “from the moment” the letter was received.

Turkey’s foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu tweeted on Wednesday:

“The process we started under the leadership of our President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in order to increase our country’s brand value is to be finalized.”

As per CNN, Cavusoglu, in the letter addressed to UN Secretary-General António Guterres, wrote: “I would like to inform you that, in line with the Presidential Circular … dated December 2, 2021, on the use of the word ‘Türkiye’ in foreign languages and the subsequent branding strategy, the Government of the Republic of Turkiye, henceforth will start using ‘Türkiye’ to replace the words such as ‘Turkey,’ ‘Turkei’ and ‘Turquie’ that have been used in the past to refer to the ‘Republic of Turkiye.'”

But why the name change? And when did the country begin pushing for it?

Let’s take a closer look:

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government ordered the use of Türkiye – the name the country called itself in 1923 after its declaration of independence – in December.

Erdogan’s reasoning?

That Türkiye would better represent Turkish culture and values.

Erdogan demanded that “Made in Türkiye” be used instead of “Made in Turkey” on exported products. Taking heed, Turkish ministries also began using Türkiye in official documents.

Why the rebrand?

State broadcaster TRT World explained the decision in an article earlier this year, saying Googling “Turkey” brings up a “a muddled set of images, articles, and dictionary definitions that conflate the country with Meleagris – otherwise known as the turkey, a large bird native to North America – which is famous for being served on Christmas menus or Thanksgiving dinners.”

The network continued: “Flip through the Cambridge Dictionary and “turkey” is defined as “something that fails badly” or “a stupid or silly person.”

TRT World argued that Turks prefer their country to be called “Türkiye”, in “keeping with the country’s aims of determining how others should identify it.”

The funny part is that both Turkey and Türkiye are widely used by the populace.

TRT World has switched to using “Türkiye” although the word “Turkey” slips in by journalists still trying to get used to the change.

Earlier this year, the government also released a promotional video as part of its attempts to change its name in English. The video shows tourists from across the world saying “Hello Türkiye” at famous destinations.

The Turkish presidency’s Directorate of Communications said it launched the campaign “to promote more effectively the use of ‘Türkiye’ as the country’s national and international name on international platforms.”

What’s the reaction been?

As per BBC, the move has garnered mixed reactions online.

While government official are backing it, others are calling it an ineffective distraction for a president facing strong economic headwinds and an election battle.

Name change

A slew of countries have changed their names including Netherlands dropping Holland in 2020, Macedonia changing its name to North Macedonia and Swaziland becoming Eswatini in 2018.

Remember Persia? That’s now Iran (though Prince of Iran doesn’t have quite the same ring to it). What the British called Rhodesia is now Zimbabwe.

And Siam changed its name to Thailand.

But it’s way too early to tell if the name change –  with a letter that doesn’t exist in the English alphabet – will stick internationally.

In 2016, the Czech Republic officially registered its short-form name, Czechia, and while some international institutions use it, many still refer to the country by its longer name.

What officials say

“It’s not an issue, it’s not for us to accept or not accept,” UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric told CNN. “Countries are free to choose the way they want to be named. It doesn’t happen every day but it’s not unusual that countries change their names.”

“One that comes to the top of my head is Côte d’Ivoire, which used to be referred to in English as Ivory Coast and they requested Côte d’Ivoire,” the spokesman added.

Taking to Twitter, the country’s  Director of Communication Fahrettin Altun put up a promotional video on with the caption: #HelloTürkiye.