Why ‘Türkiye’ is no longer called ‘Turkey’

There's a good reason for it

At the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Türkiye is part of Group D, alongside co-hosts United States, Paraguay and Australia.

Türkiye lost their opening match, suffering a 2-0 defeat against Australia and will face Paraguay on Saturday, in search of their first points at the World Cup.

For Türkiye, this is the first World Cup in 24 years, as they last took part in the 2002 FIFA World Cup which took place in Japan and South Korea.

Türkiye first qualified for the FIFA World Cup in 1950, but withdrew from the tournament, and finally made their debut four years later.

In 2002, which was their second ever World Cup, they made their return to the biggest stage in world football for the first time in 48 years, finishing third place in an impressive tournament.

The name change and why it happened

The country changed its name to Türkiye for several reasons.

The rebrand is considered a highly calculated move, as it shifted the historically Western-defined identity to an independent worldwide power.

At the centre of this transformation is Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, whose long tenure from the political capital of Ankara has systematically reshaped how the nation plays on the world stage.

The rebranding is just one of many steps that the Turkish government has undertaken to improve their global reputation.

And even if on the surface it seems many still call the country by its old name, the brand in business and investment is stronger than ever.

The primary goal for the name change was to reclaim cultural sovereignty, boost the country's brand value abroad (replacing “Made in Turkey” with “Made in Türkiye” on exports), and completely dissociate the nation from the North American bird and negative English dictionary slang (where “turkey” can mean a failure or a silly person).

When the name change happened

In a formal declaration which was issued in late 2021, the Government of Turkey declared “Türkiye” is the most authentic representation of Turkey's cultural, civilizational, and traditional values.

And then, less than a year later, by the summer of 2022, the United Nations accepted this change.

President Erdoğan issued an internal circular which demands that “Türkiye” be used for all domestic and commercial purposes.

Next, the country’s state media, including TRT and Anadolu, ran a media campaign called “Hello, Türkiye” to educate audiences worldwide on the change.

Turkish Foreign Minister Çavuşoğlu submitted a formal diplomatic request to the UN Secretary-General (António Guterres), resulting in the immediate amendment of the UN's official Member States List.

For Turkish citizens, Türkiye has always been the proper name for their country.

“Turkey” is an Anglicised version, and by asking the international community to embrace Türkiye as the country's name, the country is restoring its rightful name to the world.

Which other countries have changed their name

While changing a country’s name is a logistical and political headache, history has taught us of nations that successfully pulled off a major identity makeover.

Other country name changes include Ceylon to Sri Lanka (1972), Siam to Thailand (1939), Persia to Iran (1935), Burma to Myanmar (1989), Swaziland to Eswatini (2018), Rhodesia to Zimbabwe (1980), Macedonia to North Macedonia (2019), Czech Republic to Czechia (2016) and Holland to The Netherlands (2020).