Turkey is now Türkiye. The country asks to no longer be called “Turquie” in French or “Turkey” in English, which means “turkey”, and which can therefore have a negative connotation. An official letter has been submitted to the UN by Ankara so that the country can regain its Turkish name “Türkiye”: the change is immediate.
At the United Nations, Turkey is now officially called in all languages by its Turkish name “Türkiye” and no longer “Turkey” too connoted in English, a will of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, announced the UN Thursday.
“The change is immediate,” Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, told AFP. The diplomat specified that it was an official letter from Ankara received at the United Nations headquarters in New York on Wednesday June 1 which immediately formalized Turkey’s name change.
Türkiye : Negative connotation of Turkey
On Tuesday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Cavusoglu posted on his Twitter account, signing this letter addressed to the UN Secretary General and demanding that “the name of our country at the UN, in foreign languages, be registered like +Türkiye+”.
Ankara thus asks to no longer be called “Turquie” in French and especially “Turkey” in English, which also means “turkey”, and which could therefore have a negative connotation.
The head of Turkish diplomacy referred in his tweet to President Erdogan’s desire, since the end of 2021, to “increase the value of our country’s brand”. In fact, in economic matters, Ankara has wanted for several years to impose the “made in Türkiye” brand internationally at the expense of “made in Turkey”.
“Some may find this name change silly, but it puts Erdogan in the role of protector and safeguard of international respect for the country”, analyzes Mustafa Aksakal, professor of history at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. quoted Thursday by the New York Times.
The newspaper recalls that in June 2023, after 20 years in power of Mr. Erdogan, Turkey will hold a presidential election and that it will also celebrate the centenary of its foundation after the dismantling of the Ottoman Empire.
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