Agreeing to the Turkish government’s request, the US State Department on Thursday has agreed to stop using the word ‘Turkey’ and will instead call the Eurasian country “Turkiye”. US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said, “The Turkish embassy did request that we use this spelling in our communications.”
He added, “The department will use the spelling that you saw today in most of our formal diplomatic and bilateral contexts, including in public communications.”
This was followed by an announcement of joint action between the US and Turkiye against the financers of the Islamic Group, the State Department wrote, AFP reported.
Price said that since “Turkey” is more widely understood by Americans, its use is not prohibited.
The call for changing the name from “Turkey to Turkiye” came in 2021, when President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ordered the use of the latter in languages even in Latin script.
The United States has been using the term since August 2022 on a call between the NATO allies’ defence chiefs and the State Department has occasionally used social media.
Ever since the change in name, people worldwide have created memes, cartoons and jokes referring to the bird. Reacting to these, Turks have been upset believing them to be named because the British thought the species that came from the east.
A Turkish public broadcaster TRT World recently noted that “Turkey” can also be slang for a “stupid person.”
Among other English-speaking countries, embassy websites in Australia, Ankara, India and New Zealand use Turkiye, while the UK, Irish and South African embassies use Turkey. However, as of Thursday, the US embassy website was inconsistent in the use of the country’s spelling. and both were spotted.
(With inputs from agencies)
