The overly connoted “Turkey” in English has been replaced by “Türkiye” to designate the country internationally, as here, at the Turkish presidential level. EMIN SANSAR/Anadolu Agency via AFP
STORY – So that he is no longer the English namesake of the bird, which is considered derogatory, Erdogan is changing the name of the country abroad.
Correspondent in Istanbul
Now it is certain: Turkey will adopt its Turkish name “Türkiye” abroad. Exit, the overly connoted “Turkey” in English, which can be translated as “turkey” or “good for nothing.” Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s spelling change request, made in January, was approved at the United Nations on June 2. This language coquetry is the blatant echo of the Turkish head of state’s desire to burden the international stage. “The question is not linguistic, but political. For Turkey, it is about defining and naming itself,” analyzes Bayram Balci, director of the French Institute for Anatolian Studies (Ifea).
The interested party hardly hides it. This word “best represents and expresses the culture, civilization and values of the Turkish nation,” the Turkish president said in a press release, explaining his desire to “bear this name internationally.” An ambition that the head of Turkish diplomacy, Mevlüt Çavusoglu, relayed on Twitter: When he…
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