Turkey has told the United Nations that it wishes from now on to be called "Türkiye" in all languages, the United Nations announced on June 2nd,2022.
United Nations approved and renamed "Turkey" the current country name to "Türkiye" at the UN.
Following an official letter submitted to the United Nations by the Republic of Türkiye, the country's name has been officially changed to Türkiye at the UN.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said that a letter had been received on June 1 from the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Cavusoglu addressed to Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, requesting the use of “Türkiye” instead of “Turkey” for all affairs.
The spokesman said the country name change became effective from the moment the letter was received.
The day before, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavusoglu had tweeted a photo of himself signing the letter, addressed to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
"With the letter I sent to the U.N. Secretary-General today, we are registering our country's name in foreign languages at the U.N. as 'Türkiye,'" he wrote.
He added that the change would help "increasing the brand value of our country," an initiative started by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has led the country for almost two decades.
Over the past few years, the country has sought to change the branding on its products from "made in Turkey" to "made in Türkiye."
"The name change may seem silly to some but it puts Erdogan in the role of protector, of safeguarding international respect for the country," Georgetown University professor Mustafa Aksakal was quoted as saying in The New York Times.
The move comes ahead of next year's presidential election as well as the centenary of the nation's founding after the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government has been pressing for the internationally recognised name Turkey to be changed to "Turkiye" (tur-key-YAY) as it is spelled and pronounced in Turkish. The country called itself "Turkiye" in 1923 after its declaration of independence.
The process of renaming the country began in December 2021, when President Recep Tayyip Erdogan issued a statement saying, "The word 'Turkiye' represents and expresses the culture, civilisation, and values of the Turkish nation in the best way."
Erdogan had ordered the use of “Turkiye” including demanding that "Made in Turkiye" be used instead of "Made in Turkey" on exported products. Turkish ministries began using "Turkiye" in official documents.
Earlier this year, the government also released a promotional video as part of its attempts to change its name in English. The video shows tourists from across the world saying "Hello Turkiye" at famous destinations.
The Turkish presidency's Directorate of Communications said it launched the campaign "to promote more effectively the use of 'Turkiye' as the country’s national and international name on international platforms".