Like most Americans, I get the majority of my news from social media. But sometimes I seek balance, so I'll tune in to listen to Trevor Noah's newscast on those rare evenings when I can stay up past 11:00 pm.
And so it was this week that I learned that Turkey had filed a formal petition with the United Nations to change its official name. Because, as it turns out, the association with the bird and the connotation as a thing that's a failure rubbed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan the wrong way. (I guess he's not a bowler.)
Because UN policy basically allows nations to choose their own names, Turkey is now officially known as Turkiyë to the community of nations. It's pronounced turkey-yay, which is both fun and a little bit hard to say.
You may recall that I've got a colleague who was born in Turkey. I wrote about her journey to becoming a naturalized U.S. citizen a few years ago.
I reached out to her upon hearing the news from her homeland, and her response surprised me. "I think the Turkish government should worry about inflation being over 100% right now. It's absolutely horrendous."
Turns out elections in Turkiyë are scheduled for next year, and Erdogan's not in great shape. Also turns out he's running the Trump playbook, pre-shaping a narrative that will allow him to claim election "fraud" and retain the power that his family has held (and the stream of illicit cash) for decades.
Turkey-yay, I guess, but Erdogan-nay.
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