Törökország hivatalosan is nevet változtat … egy madár miatt

Turkey officially changes name at UN to Türkiye 

United Nations says request from Ankara has been accepted with immediate effect

Turkey’s government has sent a letter to the United Nations formally requesting that it be referred to as Türkiye, the state-run news agency has reported.

The move is seen as part of a push by Ankara to rebrand the country and dissociate it from the bird of the same name and negative connotations associated with it.

Anadolu Agency said Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson to UN secretary general António Guterres, confirmed receipt of the letter from Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, the Turkish foreign minister. The agency quoted Dujarric as saying that the name change had become effective “from the moment” the letter was received. Dujarric told the Washington Post: “It is not uncommon for us to receive such requests.”

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s government has been pressing for the internationally recognised name Turkey to be changed to Türkiye (tur-key-YAY) as it is spelled and pronounced in Turkish. The country called itself Türkiye in 1923 after its declaration of independence.

In December 2021, Erdoğan ordered the use of Türkiye to better represent Turkish culture and values, including demanding that “Made in Türkiye” be used instead of “Made in Turkey” on exported products. Turkish ministries also began using Türkiye in official documents.

The government this year released a promotional video as part of its attempts to change its name in English. The video shows tourists from across the world saying “Hello Türkiye” at famous destinations.

The Turkish presidency’s directorate of communications said it launched the campaign “to promote more effectively the use of ‘Türkiye’ as the country’s national and international name on international platforms”.

It was not clear whether the name, with a letter that doesn’t exist in the English alphabet, will catch on widely abroad. In 2016, the Czech Republic officially registered its short-form name, Czechia, and while some international institutions use it, many still refer to the country by its longer name.

Turkey’s English-language state broadcaster TRT World has switched to using Türkiye although the word Turkey slips in, used by journalists still trying to get used to the change.

TRT World explained the decision in an article earlier this year, saying Googling “Turkey” brings up a “a muddled set of images, articles, and dictionary definitions that conflate the country with Meleagris – otherwise known as the turkey, a large bird native to North America – which is famous for being served on Christmas menus or Thanksgiving dinners.”

The network continued: “Flip through the Cambridge Dictionary and ‘turkey’ is defined as ‘something that fails badly’ or ‘a stupid or silly person’.”

TRT World argued that Turks prefer their country to be called Türkiye, in “keeping with the country’s aims of determining how others should identify it”.

source: AP

CAMBRIDGE ENGLISH DICTIONARY

turkey (noun)

B1 [ countable ]
a large bird grown for its meat on farms

B1 [ uncountable ]
the flesh of this bird used as food

turkey noun (FAILURE)
[ countable ] informal
something that fails badly:

His last film was a complete turkey. – Legutóbbi filmje egy óriás bukta volt. 

[ countable ] US informal
a stupid or silly person:

What did you do that for, you turkey? – Miért csináltad most ezt, te bolond?

Turkey Idioms

Cold Turkey

 stop something immediately – valamit hirtelen abbahagyni

Some people quit smoking by smoking less and less each day until eventually, they do not smoke any cigarettes at all. Not me. I quit cold turkey. – Néhány ember úgy szokik le a dohányzásról, hogy egyre kevesebbet szív, míg végül már egyáltalán nem gyújtanak rá. Én nem így tettem. Én egyik pillanatról a másikra hagytam abba.

Have you ever quit anything? How did you do it? Did you do it cold turkey? – Szoktál már le valamiről? Hogyan csináltad? Egyik percről a másikra?

Go Cold Turkey

to stop something immediately – valamit hirtelen, egyik percről a másikra abbahagyni

This idiom is similar to the above idiom, but the addition of the verb “go” means that you can use it without the verbs “stop” or “quit”, like in the first idiom.

To quit smoking, I went cold turkey. – A dohányzást egyik percről a másikra hagytam abba.

My New Year’s Resolution is to go cold turkey on coffee. – Az fogadtam meg újévkor, hogy azonnal abba fogom hagyni a kávézást.

Talk Turkey

 to talk business; to talk honestly and opening instead of saving one’s feelings or true opinions – üzletről beszélgetni, illetve nyíltan érzelmeket feltárva beszélni, nem elfedni a valós érzéseinket és véleményünket

Let’s be honest, this new project is not working. Let’s talk turkey about what we can do to change things. – Legyünk őszinték, ez az új project nem működik. Beszéljünk nyíltan arról, hogy mit tehetünk az érdekében, hogy változtassunk a dolgokon.