Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu proudly displays the letter which his country submitted to the UN to register its new name on Tuesday/Photo: @MevlutCavusoglu/Twitter

Turkey changes official name

The United Nations has confirmed Turkey’s name change: The country will now be called Türkiye in all languages. The English name Turkey will no longer be used at the request of the government in Ankara, UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric announced on Thursday. Turkey had previously submitted a request to this effect.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu had tweeted a photo on Tuesday showing him signing the letter addressed to UN Secretary-General António Guterres. The change is part of the initiative launched by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to “increase the brand value of our country”, Çavuşoğlu said.

“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 Türkiye“.

With the official renaming on the international stage, Türkiye also wants to get rid of the English name Turkey, which also means turkey.

The campaign to rebrand as Türkiye began in December 2021 when President Erdogan issued a communique, changing the country’s internationally recognised name from “Turkey” to Türkiye.

“The word Türkiye represents and expresses the culture, civilisation, and values of the Turkish nation in the best way,” said the communique.

For some time now, the country has been using “Made in Türkiye” instead of “Made in Turkey” for the labelling of its products.

Vivian Asamoah

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