TURKISH AIRLINES to become(again) TÜRKIYE HAVA YOLLARI

[YS11]

According to Turkish President Erdogan, the Turkish Airlines brand name is largely disappearing. Instead, Türkiye Hava Yolları will be on the planes, he said on Tuesday. Hava Yollari is Turkish for airline (literally 'air lines', or airlines in English), 'Türkiye' means Turkey.‎


‎The ‎‎rebranding‎‎ of the airline should contribute to Turkey being called Türkiye internationally instead of Turkey. Earlier this month, a letter was sent to the United Nations to change the registered name of the country.‎

‎According to Erdogan, the name Türkiye fits better with Turkish culture and values, but according to critics there is another reason: Turkey in English also means turkey and (informally) dombo and flop. The Turkish president would like his country to no longer be associated with it. He would also like to divert attention from domestic problems, such as high inflation, with this issue.‎

‎"Turkey no longer exists. It is now Türkiye," Erdogan said, according to the AP news agency. "Türkiye Hava Yolları will be painted on the fuselages of our aircraft instead of Turkish Airlines."‎

‎In the last century, in addition to Turkish Airlines, Türk Hava Yolları (without -iye) was also on the planes, but later only Turkish Airlines was used.‎

https://luchtvaartnieuws.nl/sites/defau ... k=ZK46Sbqq

[Bennie]

Before the rename to English, the aircraft carried 'Türk (i.e. not Türkiye) Hava Yollari' titles..

[YS11]

Like this nice B707
https://www.airhistory.net/photos/0450224.jpg

[Key]

Now we wait and see if mr. Erdogan's words have to be taken literally, or if they will put Türk Hava Yolları on the planes again - the choice between Turkish and Turkey Airlines if I'm correct.
In the end, it comes down to the president telling the world a certain English word doesn't exist anymore. It's the equivalent of president Sakellaropoulou telling the world "Greece no longer exists. It is now Ελλάδα". It only works for Turkey because Türkiye is understandable and writeable for a major part of the world. But if that makes them happy...


Erik

P.S. I fully understand bringing back some of that original identity, by the way. I always think it's a loss to completely remove the own language from one's airliners. But that was not the incentive here.