Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has sent a letter to the United Nations formally requesting that his country be referred to as “Türkiye,” the state-run news agency reported. The move is seen as part of a push by Ankara to rebrand the country and dissociate its name from the bird, turkey, and some negative connotations that are associated with it.  

The United Nations on Wednesday said  in return that it had registered “Türkiye” as the new country name for Turkey. 

Speaking to Turkey’s Anadolu Agency, UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric said that they received the official letter from Turkish authorities seeking to change the country’s name and the change became effective from the moment the letter was received.

“Türkiye” will now be used in all foreign languages and the country’s full official name will be “Republic of Türkiye”