Turkey will now be known internationally as “Türkiye” as part of the country’s rebranding efforts.
The country’s foreign minister, Melvut Cavusoglu, sent a letter to the UN requesting a name change earlier this week.
This is seen as an attempt to distinguish the name of the country from the bird, turkey and some negative connotations associated with it.
The Turkish State News Agency reported that Stefan Dujarik, a spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Getereş, confirmed receipt of the request on Wednesday.
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He was later quoted as saying that the name change took effect shortly after the letter arrived.
The UN website already calls Turkey “Türkiye” on a number of its pages.
The government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is pushing for the internationally recognized name Turkey to be changed to “Türkiye” (pronounced tur-key-YAY), as it is spelled and pronounced in Turkish.
The country was renamed Türkiye in 1923 after independence.
In December, Mr Erdogan ordered the use of Türkiye to better represent Turkish culture and values, including a call for “Made in Turkey” to be used instead of “Made in Turkey” on exported products.
Turkish ministries have started using Türkiye in official documents.
Earlier this year, the government released a promotional video as part of attempts to change its name to English. The video shows tourists from all over the world saying “Hello, Türkiye” to famous destinations.
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The Turkish presidency’s communications directorate said it had launched a campaign “to more effectively promote the use of Türkiye as the country’s national and international name on international platforms”.
It is unclear whether the name will be spread abroad. In 2016, the Czech Republic officially registered its short name Czech Republic. While some international institutions use this name, many still refer to the country with the longer name.
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