UN To Change Turkey’s Official Name To A New Name(See New Name Here)

The United Nations has changed the Republic of Turkey’s country name at the organisation from “Turkey” to “Türkiye”, following a request from Ankara for the change.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said that a letter had been received on Wednesday from the Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu addressed to Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, requesting the use of “Türkiye” instead of “Turkey” for all affairs.

The spokesman said the country name change became effective from the moment the letter was received.

UN To Change Turkey’s Official Name To A New Name(See New Name Here)

Cavusoglu announced the letter’s official submission to the UN and other international organisations on Tuesday.

“Together with our Directorate of Communications, we have been successful in preparing a good ground for this,” said the letter.

“We have made it possible for the UN and other international organisations, countries to see this change to using ‘Türkiye’,” Cavusoglu told Anadolu Agency.

Turkey began the move to change its internationally recognised official name in English to Türkiye in December after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan released a memorandum and asked the public to use Türkiye to describe the country in every language.

“Türkiye is accepted as an umbrella brand for our country in national and international venues,” Erdogan said at the time. “Türkiye is the best representation and expression of the Turkish people’s culture, civilization, and values.”

Erdogan also advised companies to use “made in Türkiye” for their exported goods, and instructed state agencies to use Türkiye in their correspondence.

The Ü may be tricky for most of the international audience who don’t have that letter in their alphabet but it’s the same as the German Ü, like the U in pure or cue.

So for an English-speaker, changing the first vowel of Turkey to a Ü and adding an E to the end (as in pet) is enough to pronounce the new name perfectly.

But why was this necessary?

President Erdogan was pushing for this move for years, arguing that the country would be better represented with the Turkish name instead of sharing the same word with a bird.

Turkey the bird is called by a different name in many languages, such as “peru” in Portuguese, while in Turkish it is “Hindi”.

Many social media users refer to this fact to criticise the Turkish government’s move as absurd, while others agree that it was a necessary rebranding.

BY IYABO AINA 

Publisher News Rain Nigeria