Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday that the country's national carrier will change its name to "Turkiye Hava Yollari" from "Turkish Airlines."

"'Turkey' no longer exists. It is Turkiye. From now on, we will write 'Turkiye Hava Yollari' instead of 'Turkish Airlines' on the bodies of our planes," Erdogan said at a ceremony to mark the launch of the country's new communications satellite.

"Hava Yollari" means "airlines" in the Turkish language. The move is part of a rebranding campaign launched by Ankara to change the country's official name from "Turkey" to "Turkiye."

The Turkish government sent a letter to the United Nations in early June to formally register the country's name as "Turkiye." The UN has adopted the new name.

The motivation behind the move is to dissociate the country's name from a large bird native to North America, which is called "turkey."

The Turkish nation has been called "Turkiye" since the foundation of the new republic in 1923.

In December 2021, the Turkish government decided to use "Turkiye" as the country's official name, citing that the original name better represents the country. Public institutions in the country have since started to use "Turkiye" in their official communications.

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ANI/Xinhua