Turkey Tells The UN: Call Me Türkiye

Everyone knows that Istanbul was Constantinople, but now Turkey is Türkiye — at least at the United Nations.

What Happened: The Andalou Agency reported Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu sent a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres asking that the world body refer to his nation as Türkiye instead of Turkey. The change went into effect immediately.

“Together with our Directorate of Communications, we have been successful in preparing a good ground for this,” said Cavusoglu. “We have made it possible for the UN and other international organizations, countries to see this change to using ‘Türkiye.’”

Why It Happened: The Turkish rebranding began in December at the bequest of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who requested other countries use Türkiye in reference to the country. According to Al-Jazeera, Erdogan also encouraged domestic products sold for export be shipped with a "Made in Türkiye" label and government agencies use the name in official English-language documents.

Türkiye has been a UN member since the organization’s founding in 1945 and is one of the few countries that has insisted that it be identified in its native language rather than by the English translation. Ivory Coast is identified at the UN under its French name Côte d'Ivoire and Cape Verde is recognized by its Portuguese name Cabo Verde. A few countries insist on being known by their full formal names, such as the United Republic of Tanzania and the Lao People’s Democratic Republic for Tanzania and Laos, respectively.

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