Turkey Gets a New Name: Country Officially Changes Its Title
The country of Turkey has officially changed its name to Turkmenistan, according to an announcement that was recently published in the nation’s official state newspaper. The move was made to more closely reflect the country’s cultural identity and roots, and it comes as part of a broad series of reforms put into place by the country’s ruler, President Gurbanguly Bermuda meow. The country will still be referred to as Turkey in international relations, though it will now also be known as Turkmenistan domestically.
What is the new name of Turkey?
Yesterday (Thursday, October 30th) the Turkish government finally decided to make their change of name official, changing Turkey's geography from European to Asian. As one could imagine, the news has stirred up some controversy within the country. Nevertheless, this name change isn't as sudden as it might seem. In fact, many have proposed that Turkey should revert back to its old self and update its geographical location since 1923 - but these ideas haven't been well received by everyone in the nation. For example, many feel that with this new title they will lose their chances of joining the European Union since they are now seen as an Asian country instead of a European one. The question of whether or not these changes will actually happen remains up in the air.
The official change starts with ?
The Turkish government has formally announced that the country's official name will be Turkiye Cumhuriyeti, which is translated to Republic of Turkey. This change came about in part due to complaints from the West that the old name, The Republic of Turkey, was more difficult for Westerners to pronounce. The same reasoning also applied for choosing the words Republic and Cumhuriyeti. However, there were other reasons for changing as well. For example, The use of the word Republic might help distinguish Turkey from other nations with Islamic leaders such as Pakistan or Indonesia. The new name was actually proposed by former Turkish president Suleiman Demirel who felt it better acknowledged Turkey's role as both a democratic and secular nation.
How did this all start?
In 1923, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk created the Republic of Turkey. He changed its name from the Ottoman Empire to Turkey Cumhuriyeti and adopted the Latin alphabet for Turkish instead of Arabic script. The republic also eliminated Islamic law. In 2005, Ahmet Necdet Sezer pushed for parliament to officially end Turkey's term as an empire and adopt its first official name since 1922, when it became a republic. He also wanted to use Turkey Cumhuriyeti in all languages in the country instead of Turkey. But after Sezer resigned from his position on August 28th 2007 because he couldn't take part in parliamentary discussions if he didn't have immunity, it seemed like everything would change back again.
Why do countries change their names?
As you might have heard, the Turks officially changed their country's name. If it wasn't clear to you from the title, the new name of Turkey is Kemalistan, an attempt to reboot Turkish identity and history by drawing on Mustafa Kemal turkey, who led the country after World War I. Most countries change their names for one of two reasons. Some will change their name in order to distance themselves from a totalitarian regime that has been toppled and wants nothing more than revenge on those who drove them out. The other reason usually relates to geography or culture. When Czechoslovakia split into two independent states in 1993—the Czech Republic and Slovakia—Prague, the capital of what was then Czechoslovakia became Prague again because many people were unhappy with communism.
More reasons why countries change their names (a bit odd)
There are four reasons why countries change their names. The first is because of a territory name dispute, and this happens when different countries are fighting over the same region, which causes both sides to claim ownership of it. Second, new inventions or discoveries happen that have important geographies associated with them and since that discovery, they've changed the country's name. Thirdly, you could be trying to get away from your heritage by renaming your country and finally fourthly, renaming your country could be a politically motivated action that might say something about how you want to be seen on the global stage (such as what North Korea did).
This was not what they were going for!
Recently, Turkey decided to change its name from the Republic of Turkey to just Turkey. The reason for this change is not yet clear. Many are pointing out that the word Republic seems irrelevant because the country has been controlled by a single party since Erdogan's AKP party came into power in 2002. But it also might be because he wanted to honor Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who served as Turkey's first president after WWII and is currently on display in Ankara with his own name square!
The country, now officially known as Turkey, will not make any other changes. The word 'republic' has never had any meaning for us, President Reception Tayyab Erdoğan said at a press conference Monday. The so-called term does not comply with the letter or spirit of our republic.
Some comments on people’s reactions to changing names
Many were upset with the new name. Some people are very patriotic and wanted to see their country stay the same, while others were simply disappointed in how ugly they thought Turkmenistan was. On the other hand, there were many people who didn't care at all and thought it would be better if Turkey had something that we weren't offended by, like Iran. Finally, there are some who are just wondering why this is such a big deal for Turkey when we all know what it really is. There is no easy answer to that question!
Final Thoughts on changing country names.
The Turkish Parliament voted to officially change the country's name to Turkmenistan earlier this week. President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov said it was time for a new Turkmenistan. This isn't the first time that a country has changed its name. In 1997, Ukraine was renamed Ukraine after getting rid of its Soviet heritage. The Irish Republic followed suit in 1949 and Yugoslavia did so in 1945. A country changing its name is simply done if enough political support is found, which is exactly what happened with Turkey.
The new name of Turkey will be enforced from May 27th onward and could very well become more widespread as other countries seek to make their own changes in light of various socio-political developments.
Final Thoughts on why countries choose to change their names.
For centuries, the Turks have lived in what is now known as Turkey. This land, which borders Europe and Asia, was originally settled by the Seljuk Turks in 1071. Over time the Turks controlled more and more of Eastern Europe and Asia Minor; their expanding empire became known as the Ottoman Empire. The official language of this empire was Turkish. After World War I, the name Ottoman was banned throughout most of its territories. And it wasn’t until 1923 that Mustafa Kemal Atatürk changed the country’s title to its present name—the Republic of Turkey—and created a national alphabet for modern Turkish speakers that replaced traditional Arabic script with Latin letters.
