Turkey struggles with name rebrand
Turkey’s rollout this month of its new official name, Türkiye, is already facing difficulties.
“You mean Türkiye, right?” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu playfully corrected a journalist who asked him whether “Turkey” would lift its veto from the NATO accession of Sweden and Finland.
“Yes, of course,” replied the journalist, momentarily taken aback. “Should I repeat the question?”
“You mean Türkiye, right?”
— TRT World (@trtworld) June 16, 2022
Türkiye’s FM, Mevlut Cavusoglu, reminded a correspondent of the country’s recently changed name as the reporter failed to say “Türkiye” when posing a question regarding Finland and Sweden’s NATO membership bids pic.twitter.com/fgfHQko1TP
Ever since the United Nations officially recognized the name change of Turkey to “Türkiye” (with an umlaut on the u) in the beginning of June, such moments of confusion and correction are common. Visiting dignitaries and other internauts such as NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg obligingly refer to Türkiye in their opening speeches, only to fall back on the familiar Turkey as they spontaneously reply to questions. Even Cavusoglu, who lobbied fervently for the name change requested by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, slips once in a while. After all, the country has been called Turkey for 10 decades, ever since its foundation in 1923.
