Turkey to Türkiye

A name, not a new name

Türkiye is simply how the country’s name has always been spelled and pronounced in Turkish. One observer compared the change to calling Germany Deutschland.^[1]

In December 2021 President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan issued a memorandum asking people to use Türkiye in every language. He called it “the best representation and expression of the Turkish people’s culture, civilization and values”, told state agencies to use it in their correspondence, and advised exporters to label goods “made in Türkiye”.^[2]

“Türkiye is the best representation and expression of the Turkish people’s culture, civilization and values.”^[2]

The UN switches

On 1 June 2022 the UN received a letter from Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu to Secretary-General António Guterres asking it to use “Türkiye” instead of “Turkey” for all purposes. The UN spokesman said the change took effect from the moment the letter arrived.^[3][2]

The government hoped the new name would help tourism as visitors returned after the pandemic. Some supporters also wanted to separate the country’s name from the Thanksgiving bird, and from “turkey” as slang for something that fails.^[1] Critics, such as the foreign policy analyst Yörük Işık, asked why this mattered in the middle of an economic crisis.^[1] Atlas uses Türkiye throughout.