Turkey has decided to change its official name after its negative links to the animal or a “silly person”.
The European country will now be known as Türkiye at the United Nations from now on, after it agreed to a formal request from Ankara.
The rebrand comes partly because the word is commonly associated with the bird usually eaten at Christmas or Thanksgiving.
In the Cambridge English Dictionary, one definition of ‘turkey’ is “something that fails badly” or “a stupid or silly person”.
The UN has since come out and said it made the change “as soon as possible” after the country sent of a request last week, the BBC reports.
Several international bodies will be asked to make the name change as part of a rebranding campaign launched by the Turkish president late last year.
In December Recep Tayyip Erdogan said: “”Türkiye is the best representation and expression of the Turkish people’s culture, civilization, and values.”
Most Turks already know their country as Türkiye, but the anglicised Turkey is widely used, even within the country.
The new re-branding will see all exported products have the “Made in Türkiye” logo plastered on them, similar to a “Hello Türkiye” tourism scheme that was launched at the beginning of the year.https://get-latest.convrse.media/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mirror.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fworld-news%2Fturkey-rebrands-officially-changes-name-27133638&cre=center&cip=14&view=web
The change has been met with mixed emotions from Turkish people.
While government officials support the decision, many have labeled it an “ineffective distraction” as the president heads into elections next year, amid the ongoing economic crisis.
Turkey is following suit from many other countries that have decided to change their names.
In 2020, The Netherlands decided to drop it’s well-known Holland name in a rebranding move.