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News > Turkey

UN Grants Turkey’s Request to Change Name to ‘Turkiye'

  • Turkey's name change was put into effect upon the UN's receiving of the official request.

    Turkey's name change was put into effect upon the UN's receiving of the official request. | Photo: Twitter @The_NewArab

Published 3 June 2022
Opinion

The New York Times pointed out that the decision comes before next year's presidential election, as well as the centennial of the country's creation following the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire.
 

Turkey has informed the United Nations that, at the request of its President, it prefers to be referred to as "Turkiye" in all languages from now on, the UN said on Thursday. "The change is immediate," Stephane Dujarric, the UN chief's spokesperson, told AFP.

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He stated that Ankara's official letter demanding the adjustment was received at the UN headquarters in New York on Wednesday.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavasoglu had posted a photo of himself signing the letter, which was addressed to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres the day before. "With the letter I sent to the UN Secretary General today, we are registering our country's name in foreign languages at the UN as 'Turkiye,'" he wrote, including an umlaut over the "u".

He went on to say that the shift would put an end to the process of "raising the brand value of our country," which was initiated by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has led the country for nearly two decades.

In recent years, the government has attempted to modify the labeling on its products from "made in Turkey" to "made in Turkiye."

In addition to matching how the country is spelled in Turkish, the update would help separate the country from the bird of the same name in English.

"The name change may seem silly to some but it puts Erdogan in the role of protector, of safeguarding international respect for the country," Georgetown University professor Mustafa Aksakal was quoted as saying in The New York Times. 

The journal also pointed out that the decision comes before next year's presidential election, as well as the centennial of the country's creation following the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire.

 
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