In April 2019, I wrote an article to correct a mistake that had been made for nearly a century. I wrote that changing Turkey’s English name from “Turkey,” which also means “hindi” (the Turkish word for the bird eaten on Thanksgiving Day), to “Turkia,” meaning “Turkish country,” was necessary both for the country’s honor and to correct an inappropriateness in the English language. I am resharing this initial article, which received thousands of comments on social media, sparked a major debate, and subsequently triggered change: https://www.serhansuzer.com/tr/ulkemizin-ingilizce-adi-turkia-olmali
Subsequently, over the months and years, I wrote numerous articles at every opportunity to follow the issue, share developments in this case, and remind you. I’m sharing them below, one by one:
https://www.serhansuzer.com/tr/egitimli-kesimin-yetersizligi-ve-kisilik-sorunlari
https://www.serhansuzer.com/tr/sikca-sorulan-sorulara-cevaplarim-8 (See questions 74 and 75 and their answers)
https://www.serhansuzer.com/tr/cine-ilk-gidisimde-gunes-enerjisi-etkinliginde-yaptigim-konusma
https://www.serhansuzer.com/tr/turkia-kampanyam-karsiligini-bulmaya-basladi
https://www.serhansuzer.com/tr/kastamonulu-genclerin-iklim-degisikligi-konusunda-bilinclenmesi
All these efforts and the discussions on social media caught the attention of high-ranking government officials, and in the last month of last year, an official letter was sent to Turkish embassies urging them to call Turkey “Türkiye” in English from now on. I wrote another letter expressing my satisfaction with this development, as it was the first step towards change, but also emphasizing that the steps taken were insufficient:
https://www.serhansuzer.com/tr/made-in-turkiye-degisikligi-ile-ilk-dogru-adim-atildi
Now, as we enter June, thanks to the efforts of the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the United Nations (UN) has changed the name of our country, which was previously known as “Turkey” in English, to “Türkiye.” This has exploded in the news worldwide (See: https://www.geo.tv/latest/420470-renaming-turkey-is-now-turkiye ). I’ve received dozens of messages from friends around the world who know I’m obsessed with this issue and have launched a campaign. I responded to these messages, which were generally congratulatory, as follows:
“Thank you for sharing this article with me. I am aware of it. When I started a campaign to change our country name in English from “Turkey” to “Turkia” in 2019, I received thousands of comments on social media and made an impact on State Officials. At the end, it worked. Turkish Government sent an official notification to all countries’ embassies to change our name to Türkiye (which is Turkish) last December and recently informed the UN. This is a good step forward but not sufficient. The proper name in English should be Turkia (Estonia – Country of Eston, Bulgaria – Country of Bulgar, Australia, Italia, Bosnia, India etc.). English speakers cannot pronounce Türkiye. We will see what happens in the future.”
In response to this message, I received congratulations for running an effective campaign that went so far as to change a country’s name. After sharing all this with you, I’d like to reiterate the comparison between Turkey, Türkiye, and Turkia that I wrote in my previous article to avoid any misunderstanding:
Why is ‘Turkia’ correct?
I’d like to emphasize that while I welcome the change from ‘Turkey’ to ‘Türkiye’ as a positive first step, it’s not enough. Because ‘Türkiye’ is a Turkish word, and you can’t translate a word from your own language into another language. For example, English doesn’t have the letter ‘ü.’ In fact, you can’t force only English speakers to pronounce the letter ‘ü’; their language won’t work. They’ll say ‘u’ instead of ‘Ü.’ They also don’t know how to pronounce the remaining -kiye part of the word ‘Türkiye.’ Native English speakers will all pronounce the word ‘Türkiye’ differently. Let me give you an example to illustrate. To avoid using the letter ‘ü’ or ‘Türkiye’ (Turkey) as a prefix for ‘how do you pronounce it?’, put the word ‘Turkiye’ in front of the British or Americans, and you’ll get different pronunciations like: ‘Turkiy,’ ‘Törkiy,’ ‘Turkay,’ ‘Törkay,’ ‘Turkaye,’ ‘Törkaye,’ etc. Did I get my point across?
Rationale and global examples
In English, the suffix -ia is the equivalent of the suffix -istan in Turkish. So, when you add -ia to the end of a nation or ethnicity, you define ‘its country.’ For example, ‘Bulgaria’ means “the country of the Bulgars,’ ‘Malaysia’ means ‘the country of the Malays,’ and ‘Estonia’ means ‘the country of Eston.’ This is the case all over the world. I could give you many more examples:
Albania, Algeria, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Georgia, India, Indonesia, Mongolia, Nigeria, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Syria, and many more countries I can’t list here.
Although I love speaking our native Turkish and know I will take steps in the future to spread it globally, I also accept the fact that English has become the common language of the world. English is by far the most spoken language in the world (it doesn’t matter if it’s a first or second language; the important thing is that it’s spoken).
English is the common language of the world
When you look at all the spoken languages, even if you don’t count China and India, due to their populations of billions (in which Mandarin is by far the most spoken language, although the number of Mandarin speakers doesn’t exceed China’s population. Cantonese is second in China, and there are other languages as well. Cantonese is also spoken by approximately 100 million Chinese. In India, the most spoken languages are Hindi, followed by Urdu, which also have a population of several hundred million). India has over 150 languages and dialects. Spanish, also among the most popular, is spoken by approximately 500 million people in 22 countries. English is the only language spoken by several billion people. That’s why we need to sit up straight and speak the truth. English has been by far the most widespread language in the world in the last century, and it has long deserved its position as the world’s lingua franca.
Each language needs to be evaluated on its own merits. If you try to force a word from your own language into English, the body won’t tolerate it, and English speakers won’t be able to adapt. You can’t force people to say the letter ‘ü’ if they can’t speak it. Furthermore, even if it’s written with the letter u, everyone will pronounce the word “Turkey” differently.
Related news and sketches
I’d like to share a BBC news report on this topic with you: https://www.bbc.com/turkce/haberler-dunya-61727567#:~:text=Birle%C5%9Fmi%C5%9F%20Milletler%27de%20(BM),tecih%20edilip%20edilmeyece%C4%9Fi%20hen%C3%BCz%20bilinabilirsiniz .
In short, the report states: …even though this change is implemented at the UN, it’s not yet known whether the name Turkey will be preferred in everyday use in all countries.
The UK and US governments continue to list the country as ‘Turkey’ on their websites, while the BBC prefers the same name in its English news.
I wonder if I made myself clear?.
That’s why I consider the change from ‘Turkey,’ which offends us all, to ‘Türkiye’ (Turkey) a positive step. However, I believe that in the future, this name will definitely be changed back to ‘Turkia,’ as it should be in English. History will record this. Anyone who is proactive in every issue, like me, can use the word ‘Turkia’ now.
Bonus: The news of Turkey’s English name being changed to ‘Türkiye’ by the UN has been covered in all international media. Even Trevor Noah, who does comedy sketches in the US, addressed the issue of our ‘Turkey’ in his own unique style (it was a coincidence that he also mocked the issues I raised):Bird Causes Turkey To Consider Changing Its Name | The Daily Show – YouTube
Note: After writing this article, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made the following statement, according to the 14 June 2022, article, “Erdoğan: We will write ‘Türkiye Hava Yolları’ (Turkish Airlines), not ‘Turkish Airlines’ – Breaking News – Sözcü (sozcu.com.tr): “There is no longer Turkey, there is Türkiye. From now on, we will write ‘Türkiye Hava Yolları’ (Turkish Airlines) on the fuselages of our aircraft instead of ‘Turkish Airlines’.”
While I appreciate the courage to make such a change, I must say that I disagree with President Erdoğan. We must show that respect to those who speak English within the framework of their own language. “Turkish Airlines” is the correct term. Those who do not speak Turkish will not understand the phrase “Türkiye Hava Yolları” or, even if they learn its meaning, they will not be able to pronounce it. We cannot force native English speakers or those for whom English is a second language to speak Turkish.
Tag: education
