Last year the Turkish government asked English speakers to do it. Official organisations are doing it to maintain good relations with Turkey, but most people are ignoring it.
Personally I think it’s silly for the Turkish government to dictate the English language. This isn’t as though it’s a totally different name, like Swaziland becoming Eswatini or Burma becoming Myanmar, or the adding of a (short form) name where none previous existed, like with “Czechia”. Hell, Constantinople changing to Istanbul is a good example of one where it’s universal. It’s not even like it’s been changed in every language, it’s just the English spelling they object to.
It’s be like if the UK government demanded that they refer to England as England instead of “İngiltere”. I’m usually happy to go along with stuff lke this, but this really just comes across as the Turkish government complaining about something which doesn’t need complaining about. They don’t object to the Germans calling it “Türkei” or the Italians calling it “Turchia”, so they really just need to get over the fact that in English, their country happens to share its name with a bird.
Also, let’s be real, even if they can convince people to write “Turkiye”, the vast majority of English speakers are not gonna bother with the umlaut.
Latest Answers