Turkey Again Became Turkiye On 1 June 2022. U.S. Department Of State Required 218 Days To Accept It- And Still Not Complete. The Delay Should Rightly Be Perceived By President Erdogan As An Insult.

“Turkey adopted its official name, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, known in English as the Republic of Turkey, upon the declaration of the republic on 29 October 1923.” 

From Permanent Representative of the Republic of Turkyie to the United Nations: “The country name “Türkiye” is replacing “Turkey” at the [United Nations] UN.  Following an official letter [1 June 2022] 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 Cavuşoğlu 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.” 

United States Department of State
Briefing With Spokesperson
5 January 2023

QUESTION: Okay. I have a logistical question before I want to ask about Ukraine. The logistical question relates to something that we all learned this morning about the Türkiye name – spelling change, I suppose – not name change. And I just wanted to know if the maps have been changed yet, because I noticed that neither the FAM, the Foreign Affairs Manual, nor the website have been changed to reflect this new directive, which I understand was just made this morning. Is that correct? 

MR [NED] PRICE: It was finalized this morning; it was put into practice this morning. Yes, so I can confirm that the Turkish embassy did request that we use this spelling in our communications. This is a change that was, as is always the case, approved by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names. It did approve the change of the spelling. This is a process. Obviously we are a large institution. There are lots of components, whether it’s our website, whether it’s our communications, whether it is products that are derivative of the Department of State.

What I can tell you, though, is that the Board on Geographic Names retained both “Turkey” and “Republic of Turkey”, the previous spelling, as conventional names, as these are more widely understood by the American public. The department will use the spelling that you saw today in most of our formal diplomatic and bilateral contexts, including in public communications, but the conventional name can also be used if it is in furtherance of broader public understanding. 

QUESTION: Well, does that mean the maps are going to be changed, that the website will be changed, that the FAM will be changed? 

MR PRICE: This is – this is — 

QUESTION: What about passports? What if you’re an American citizen born in Türkiye? 

MR PRICE: This is – this is something that we will do on a case-by-case basis. But what I can tell you is that we will use the revised spelling in most formal diplomatic and bilateral contexts. 

QUESTION: So there isn’t any, like, system-wide scrubbing of every document that has been created since the end of the Ottoman Empire, since the creation of modern Türkiye to change the — 

MR PRICE: This is – this is a process. The process started in earnest today. 

QUESTION: Well, I know — 

MR PRICE: But again, we’re a large institution. 

QUESTION: But is that — 

MR PRICE: There’s not a – there’s not a Control-F function for the entire Department of State. But we are –we will work on that going forward. 

QUESTION: So that is something that you intend to do, to gradually change or revise all of the historical  

MR PRICE: Where appropriate. Where appropriate. Again, because the Board on Geographic Names did retain the option for the previous spelling, the “Republic of Turkey” and “Turkey,” to be applicable when it is in furtherance of broader public understanding. 

QUESTION: Okay. I was going to — 

QUESTION: Can I just follow up, just briefly? 

QUESTION: Oh, yeah. 

QUESTION: I’ll resist saying you went cold turkey, but I guess you — 

MR PRICE: We’re talking turkey, though. 

QUESTION: We’re talking turkey. 

MR PRICE: Yes. 

QUESTION: Exactly. Or Türkiye. Just is it throughout the U.S. Government? 

QUESTION: Keep your day job. 

QUESTION: (Laughter.) Is it throughout the U.S. Government or just the State Department? 

MR PRICE: Today’s change pertained to the Department of State. As I think many of you have noticed, other departments and agencies have already adopted this new spelling. 

QUESTION: Okay.