Turkey has made a formal request to the United Nations for its name to be changed to Turkiye.

The move is seen as a push by the government in Ankara to disassociate its name from the bird turkey and some negative connotations associated with it.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu sent a letter to the United Nations to formally request the name change, a state-run news agency has reported.

The Anadolu Agency said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, confirmed receipt of the letter late on Wednesday.

The agency quoted Mr Dujarric as saying that the name change had become effective “from the moment” the letter was received.

The government have been pushing for the country to be recognised as Turkiye (pronounced tur-key-YAY) as it is spelt and pronounced in Turkish since December. It is the name the country called itself when it gained independence in 1923.

They say the new name better represents Turkish culture and values, allowing them to determine how the country is seen.

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Turkish ministers started using it in official documents last year and “Made in Turkey” on exported products has also been ordered to change to “Made in Türkiye”.

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TRT World, a Turkish news channel, explained in an article earlier this year that googling “turkey” shows a “muddled set of images, articles and dictionary definitions” that confuses the country with the “bird native to North America”.

It added, the Cambridge dictionary defines Turkey as “something that fails badly” or “stupid or silly person”.

Earlier this year the Turkish government released a promotional video showing tourists from around the world saying “Hello Turkiye” at famous destinations.

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

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