Talk:Turkey/FAQ

Q1: Why don't you rename this article Türkiye or Turkiye, the correct name for this country?

A1: Because the English language Wikipedia has a policy, use commonly recognizable names. We use the names for countries and places that are commonly used in English, regardless of what official organizations use. Technically, this kind of name is known as an exonym. For example, we use the name Germany, instead of the native endonym Deutschland.

Regarding the Turkiye option: In English, it is no more recognizable than Türkiye; In Turkish, it is a departure from the native spelling. So it suffers the downsides of both other options.

If and when English-language usage changes (as has happened in the past with place names such as Mumbai [formerly Bombay] and Beijing [formerly Peking]), the common name policy dictates that the English language Wikipedia will follow suit. So far, that hasn't happened.

This has been discussed many times, with the same result every time because of the common name policy. The latest discussion re-affirmed the existing title and imposed a one-year moratorium on name change discussions (ending May 2026). New discussions created during that moratorium may be closed or removed.

Q2: Why is "officially the Republic of Türkiye" used in the first sentence?

A2: Because this makes it clear that "Türkiye" is official while still using the common colloquial name for the article title. This gives readers a quick spelling reference for research purposes. Latest discussion.

Q3: If this is the country then where's the article for Turkey food? for Turkey bird? Or other "Turkey"-related things?

A3: We cover Turkey meat and Turkish cuisine as other articles, as well as Turkey (bird) for the bird, and other Turkey-related topics separately by other articles, see Turkey (disambiguation). The community has decided Turkey the country is the so-called "primary topic" for the term "Turkey", which is why the country article is here at Turkey. Please see WP:PRIMARYTOPIC.