Ankara will send an official letter to all international organizations
Turkey has officially asked the United Nations and other international organizations to change the spelling of Turquieu’s name, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu was quoted as saying by the DPA.
Ankara will send an official letter to all relevant international organizations and expects the name change to become official later this week, Cavusoglu told the Anatolian Agency. He said the UN was “ready” for the change, with Ankara promoting the replacement of the English-language name Turkey with the name Turkiye for most of its international correspondence, including in foreign media coverage.
In December, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan issued a decree replacing the English-language version of Turkey with the name Turkiye in English, French and German, as well as in other languages, and Turkiye is also used in export product labels.
The term “Turkiye” “represents and expresses the culture, civilization and values of the Turkish people in the best possible way,” Erdogan’s decree said. The exact reason behind the renaming and the chosen moment for this remains unclear, notes DPA. In December, state television TRT cited an article saying the word Turkey had “unkind” English connotations because it referred to “a large bird of North American origin” or “something that falls badly.”
