Türkiye vs Turkey: Why the Name Change? (2026 Guide)

Quick Answer: In June 2022 the United Nations officially registered the country's name as Türkiye (pronounced tur-key-YEH ), replacing the anglicised Turkey . The change is about national identity and disambiguation from the bird; for travellers, passports, tickets and visas still work with either spelling, but signage, tourism boards and official communications now use Türkiye . If you've been researching your trip and noticed that some sources say Turkey , others Türkiye — and that the government's tourism campaign is now branded "Go Türkiye" — you're not imagining things. As a licensed Turkish tour guide (No. 070867 ), I get this question weekly. Here is the full, plain-English explainer. What Actually Happened in 2022? On 1 June 2022 , the Republic of Türkiye formally requested that the United Nations register its country name as Türkiye in all UN languages. The UN accepted the request the same day. This was not a rename — the country's official Turkish name has always been Türkiye . What changed is that international bodies stopped translating it into "Turkey", "Turquie", "Turquía" and so on. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan framed the request as an assertion of "the culture, civilisation and values of the Turkish nation in the best way". The Turkish state broadcaster TRT World had already adopted the spelling in December 2021, and Turkish Airlines began repainting fuselages the following spring. Why Did the Government Push for the Change? Three reasons are usually given: Disambiguation from the bird. In English, "turkey" also refers to the North American bird ( Meleagris gallopavo ) served at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Officials argued the association was reductive. Colloquial meanings. The Cambridge Dictionary still lists "turkey" as slang for "something that fails badly" or "a stupid or silly person". Not a great look for a NATO member and top-10 tourism economy. Cultural sovereignty. Using the country's endonym — the name people inside the country actually u