Supporters wave flags and cheer as they hear Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speak during a ruling AKP party rally on November 27, 2022 in Istanbul, Turkey.
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Supporters wave flags and cheer as they hear Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speak during a ruling AKP party rally on November 27, 2022 in Istanbul, Turkey.
Burak Kara / Getty Images
The State Department will begin spelling Turkey “Türkiye” in a formal and diplomatic environment.
State Department spokesman Ned Price said the name change had been approved by the US Geographical Names Commission at a request from the Turkish embassy. confirmed on Thursday.
The State Department, which handles US foreign policy, is the latest federal agency to adopt the spelling change.
Price said it will take some time for the department’s website and contact information to reflect the new way of writing. The Geographical Names Council also gave the option set to continue to use “Turkey” and “Republic of Turkey” where appropriate. For example, the previous spelling is allowed in map products because it is more widely understood by the American public.
The name change also comes six months after the United Nations agreed to recognize Türkiye in June.
The State Department’s current pronunciation won’t change, according to The Associated Press, for the first time report change.
The name change is not just symbolic but an attempt at rebranding
The Turks have called their country Türkiye since 1923 when the Ottoman Empire fell and the Turkish Republic was established.
In 2021, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan promoted the name by launching a global rebranding campaign. He asked the rest of the world to accept his country’s original name, not the English version.
“Türkiye is the best representation and expression of Turkish culture, civilization and values,” he said at the time.
Erdogan’s government hopes the rebranding efforts will enhance the country’s reputation as an international destination and in turn boost its economy.
Some supporters say they want to separate the country name from the bird name, which is widely known in the US as a popular Thanksgiving dish as well as a slang for something that doesn’t work or is stupid.
But others are skeptical of the rebrand, arguing it’s just a ploy to distract people from the country’s long list of problems.
“Turkey is collapsing in what may be the biggest financial crisis since the Second World War. Our two neighbors are at war with each other. There is a world food security crisis. And this is when we decided to change the country’s name?” Turkish foreign policy analyst Yoruk Isik told NPR back in june.
NPR’s Peter Kenyon contributed reporting.
