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Modern Maps Might Be Getting An Update As a Major Nation Changes Its Name
And gets a new pronunciation
The country of Turkey is tired of sharing its name with a fat flightless bird most associated with the United States. A recent campaign in Turkey asserts that their nation’s name was Anglicized following the breakup of the Ottoman Empire. In some respects, they aren’t wrong. While the name Turkey is derived from the Turkish people it does have the inglorious distinction of sharing its name with a slice of common meat in English. In their defense, there are no other nations named Chicken, Pork, or Duck.
In a move to make its name more ethnic and authentic Turkey has moved to change its official name to Turkiye. The new name was submitted to the United Nations and was accepted. That means that for official government business the nation of Turkey is now known as Turkiye.
Turkiye is pronounced tur-key-yay and will slowly be phased into the global zeitgeist in the coming years. It is going to be hard to convince the nearly two billion English speakers in the world to start calling the nation by its new name but that is a hill the Turks are willing to climb.
Political and Personal Motivations
Government officials in Turkey have not been shy about their motivations for the new name. Officials went on the record to decry Turkey’s association with the English bird as well as the fact that in some dialects the word turkey denotes a failure or SNAFU. However, there are other factors at play that are driving the name change.
Turkey has been balancing on the knife’s edge of unrest and economic upheaval. The nation’s long-time president continues to face headwinds as the country lurches towards another election. Turkey is facing extremely high rates of inflation in excess of 50% while battling a currency that has plummeted in value. The Turkish lira lost 44% of its value in 2021 in the face of economic uncertainty and persistent inflation.
Turkish officials are hoping that the name change will work as a sort of panacea, distraction and nationalist rallying cry all rolled into one. It is yet to be seen if the effort will yield any positive results.
