US Approves to Use Turkey New Spelling in Official Communications

On Thursday, the US State Department agreed to use the new spelling of "Turkey" to "Turkiye."

The Department of State Spokesperson Ned Price said that the change came upon a request from the Turkish Embassy.

He added: "The department will use the spelling that you saw today in most of our formal diplomatic and bilateral contexts, including in public communications."

US highlighted that the "Republic of Turkey" would be used as the US citizens are more familiar with it.

The call for changing the name from "Turkey to Turkiye" started in 2021, when President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ordered to change it due to the similarities between the name and Thanksgiving's turkies. 

The Turkish TRT World noted that "Turkey" can also be slang for a "stupid person."

Among other English-speaking countries, official websites in Australia, India and New Zealand used the word "Turkiye," while the UK, Ireland and South Africa still use the world "Turkey." 

However, both versions of the country's name were spotted on official US websites.