Ankara says it’s Turkiye, not Turkey

Turkey has told the UN that, at the behest of its President, it wishes from now on to be called ‘Turkiye’ in all languages.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Picture: AFP

Turkey has told the UN that, at the behest of its President, it wishes from now on to be called “Turkiye” in all languages.

“The change is immediate,” said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavasoglu said the change would bring to an end the process of “increasing the brand value of our country”, an initiative started by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has led the country for two decades.

The country has sought to change the branding on its products from “made in Turkey” to “made in Turkiye”. In addition to making the UN’s nomenclature match how the nation is spelled in Turkish, the update would also help distinguish 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 told The New York Times. The move comes ahead of next year’s presidential election and the centenary of the ­nation’s founding after the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire.

AFP