Turkey has made a formal request to the United Nations to change its name to Turkiye.
The move is seen as a push by the Ankara government to disassociate its name from the turkey and some of the negative connotations associated with it.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu sent a letter to the United Nations formally requesting a name change, a state news agency reported.
Anadolu news agency said Stephane Dujarric, a spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, confirmed receipt of the letter on Wednesday afternoon.
The agency quoted Dujarric as saying that the name change had taken effect “from the moment” the letter was received.
The government has been pushing for the country to be recognized as Turkiye (pronounced tur-key-YAY) as it has been written and pronounced in Turkish since December. It is the name given to the country when it became independent in 1923.
They say the new name better represents Turkish culture and values, allowing them to determine how the country looks.
Turkish ministers began using it in official documents last year and it has also been ordered that “Made in Turkey” in exported products be replaced by “Made in Turkey”.
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TRT World, a Turkish news channel, explained in an article earlier this year that google “turkey” shows a “confusing set of images, articles and dictionary definitions” that confuses the country with the “native bird of ‘North America”.
He added, the Cambridge dictionary defines Turkey as “something wrong” or “stupid or stupid person”.
Earlier this year, the Turkish government released a promotional video showing tourists from around the world saying “Hello Turkiye” to famous destinations.
The Turkish presidency’s Communications Directorate said it had launched the campaign “to more effectively promote the use of ‘Turkiye’ as the country’s national and international name on international platforms”.