Turkey no longer wants to be called “Turkey”. What’s behind that?

Turkey is now officially called Türkiye, which means “Turkey” in Turkish. Last week, the Turkish government sent a letter to the United Nations asking it to use the name Türkiye from now on. A UN spokesperson said the name change took effect from the time the UN received the letter. The use of the letter “ü”, which is not part of the Latin alphabet, did not pose any problem. So now it’s Türkiye instead of Turkey or Turkey.

The request is part of a broader effort by President Erdogan to rebrand the country. This campaign started in December last year when he issued a memorandum asking the public to use “Türkiye” as the name of the country from now on – in any language.

“Turkey has been accepted as an umbrella brand for our country in national and international forums. Turkey is the best representation and expression of the culture, civilization and values ​​of the Turkish people,” the president said.

Erdogan asked ministries and other state institutions to use “Türkiye” in official documents, especially in their correspondence with international organizations. And he advised Turkish companies toMade in Turkey‘ on their export products, rather than ‘Made in Turkey† In addition, the government launched a promotional video in English, in which tourists from all over the world ‘Hello Turkey‘ say while strolling through famous holiday destinations in Turkey.

Turkey

English-language state media TRT and Anadolu and the pro-government press faithfully followed the name change and also tried to interpret the decision. They say it reflects Turkey’s sovereignty to choose its own name and pride in bearing a Turkish name. Turks would always have found it strange that their country’s name means “turkey” in English. An article by World TRT refers to the English dictionary, in which turkey is defined as “a failure” or “a stupid or stupid person”.

Turks would find it strange that their country means “turkey” in English

Initially, the Turks were unsure whether to take the campaign seriously. What does Erdogan want to achieve with this, they wondered. Does he now also want to change the name of the country? Doesn’t he have more important things on his mind, like inflation, which is 73%? Is it possible to impose a Turkish name on other linguistic regions, in particular those which do not use the Latin alphabet? But the request for a name change at the UN shows that Erdogan is serious.

Turkey is not the first country to request a name change. Usually, countries did this to say goodbye to a colonial name and to symbolically shake off the colonial yoke. Rhodesia became Zimbabwe in 1980 and Burma became Myanmar in 1989. This last name change was accepted by the UN and countries like France and Japan. But there were also countries, such as the United States and the United Kingdom, which refused to recognize the legitimacy of the Burmese junta and with it its authority to rename the country.

Distract from discomfort

Turkey’s rebrand appears to be primarily intended to play on Erdogan’s nationalist supporters and distract from the economic crisis, which is lagging the opposition in the polls. By imposing the Turkish name of Turkey on other linguistic regions, notably English, Erdogan seems to want to emphasize that Turkey has become under his leadership an independent superpower that can no longer be guided by the West.

‘Türkiye’ is not so Turkish: it seems to have been taken from Italian or French

But this reasoning is linguistically flawed. Because, according to the etymological dictionary of the Turkish-Armenian writer and linguist Sevan Nishanyan, the name ‘Türkiye’ is taken from the Italian ‘Turchia’ or from the French ‘Turquie’, which means ‘the country of the Turks’. Nishanyan writes: “The idiom, widely used by Westerners since the 13th century, gained popularity in the last quarter of the 19th century among Turks familiar with Western culture.” Türkiye is therefore a European loanword, and not as indigenous as Erdogan would have you believe.

English press

An age-old name is also not easy to replace, especially if it differs little from the new in terms of spelling and pronunciation. In any case, the English press will continue to use Turkey for the time being. And government leaders are also struggling with the new name. This became evident in March during Prime Minister Rutte’s visit to Turkey. “It’s a pleasure to be back in Turkey,” Rutte began. joint press conference with Erdogan. But a few sentences later, he was talking about “Turkey” again.

Time will tell if the Turkish spelling of the name sticks.