Published on : 03/06/2022 – 04:45
Ankara asked the United Nations on Wednesday to no longer be called “Turkey” in French and especially “Turkey” in English, which also means “turkey”, and which could therefore have a negative connotation. On Thursday, the UN confirmed the change with immediate effect.
At the United Nations, the Turkey is now officially called in all languages by its Turkish name “Türkiye” and no longer “Turkey” too connoted in English, a will of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, announced the UN Thursday, June 2.
“The change is immediate,” Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, told AFP. The diplomat specified that it was an official letter from Ankara received at the United Nations headquarters in New York on Wednesday June 1 which immediately formalized Turkey’s name change.
On Tuesday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Cavusoglu posted on his Twitter account, signing this letter addressed to the UN Secretary General and demanding that “the name of our country at the UN, in foreign languages, be registered like ‘Türkiye'”.
Ankara thus asks to no longer be called “Turkey” in French and especially “Turkey” in English, which also means “turkey”, and which could therefore take on a negative connotation.
“Safeguarding International Respect”
The head of Turkish diplomacy referred in his tweet to President Erdogan’s desire, since the end of 2021, to “increase the brand value of our country”. In fact, in economic matters, Ankara has wanted for several years to impose the “made in Türkiye” brand internationally at the expense of “made in Turkey”.
“Some may find this name change silly, but it puts Erdogan in the role of protector and safeguard of international respect for the country”, analyzes Mustafa Aksakal, professor of history at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. quoted Thursday by the New York Times.
With AFP