Text/Yangcheng Evening News all-media reporter Su Biqing
Since the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, there is a country that has danced with long sleeves because of its special geographical advantages, frequently making headlines in international news, and its every move has attracted the attention of the outside world. This is Turkey, which even changed its English name this month. So far, it has not only played an important mediator role in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, but also used its status as a member of NATO to block the "accession" channel of Sweden and Finland with one vote, without giving NATO and the United States face at all.
Why is Turkey so bullish? To dissect this question, we must first understand the past, present, and future of this country.
The Blue Mosque of Istanbul is a splendid masterpiece of architecture and art from the Ottoman era
There is a reason for the "name change"
Let's start with the matter of "changing the name of the country." The commonly used name of Turkey internationally has always been "Turkey". On June 1, UN Secretary-General Spokesman Diarik announced that the UN had formally approved Turkey's request to change its foreign language name from "Turkey" to "Türkiye". This means that in the future, people should use the word "Türkiye" to refer to Turkey in international forums.
So, how does this new name sound? What is the special meaning? What is the purpose of Turkey's "name change" at this time?
Turkey is known as the Republic of Turkey and uses the Turkish word "Türkiye" as an abbreviation. "Türkiye" means "homeland of the Turks", and the root "Türk" means "Turkic", which is in line with the identity of many Turks who consider themselves to be Turkic descendants.
The Crocus City in central Anatolia is a World Heritage Site, and the developed commercial trade of the Ottoman Empire in the 17th century left a large number of unique buildings here
However, the international community has always been more accustomed to referring to Turkey with the English word "Turkey". But embarrassingly, because the initials of "turkey" mean turkey, and even defined in the Cambridge Dictionary as "something that seriously failed" or "stupid person", even Chinese internet is often ridiculed as "turkey country", which does bring a lot of trouble to Turkey's national image.
Speaking of which, the reason why Turkey's English name will be reduced to "turkey" is that the old account is also caused by the West. There are many theories, one of which is that the British found a red-headed, black-feathered animal in the Americas, believing that it was very similar to the dress of the Turkish soldiers, and called it "turkey". In the face of the decline of the empire, the Turks can be said to have endured the humiliation for hundreds of years in the face of this red-hot humiliation in the West.
According to Turkish Foreign Minister Cavusoglu's explanation on Twitter, the name change was a decision made under the leadership of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to enhance the value of Turkey's own brand. Erdogan believes that the new name "better reflects the culture, civilization and values of the Turkish nation" and enhances Turkey's prestige on the international stage.
For a traditional hammam, look at the rooftop. Traditional Hammam is one of the most popular experiences for tourists (Photo/ Deng Hong)
Can the promotion go smoothly?
As soon as the news of the name change was announced, it immediately caused a round of "carnival" on social networks, some rooted in Turkish history, some snooping on the ambitions behind it, some laughing and joking, some sharing travel food...
Regardless of the reaction of the international community to this, since June 1, Turkey has started with itself, replacing Turkey, Turkei, Turquie and other spellings with Türkiye on various formal occasions. According to the presidential decree signed by Erdogan last December, In the future, Turkey's export products will replace "Made in Turkey" with "Made in Türkiye". People who like to shop for Turkish products online can later infer the specific production time of some products.
Colourful Turkish-style lighting
But it's like a person's name has been called for decades, you want to change it, but can others call it Shunkou?
In this regard, Zan Tao, director of the Turkish Research Center of Peking University, said in an interview with Xinhua News Agency that although the United Nations approved Turkey's application, it may take a long time for the international community to accept its new name, and the popularity rate is difficult to guarantee.
First, the pronunciation of ü in Türkiye is similar to the pronunciation of ü in Hanyu Pinyin (Türkiye's pronunciation sounds similar to "Turkey Ya"), but there is no corresponding letter or pronunciation in languages such as English.
Secondly, the Turkish language contains the 7 letters "Ç, Ğ, I, İ, Ö, Ş, Ü", and has its own set of input methods, and foreigners who want to spell accurately also have to switch the input method. Of course, some people use the common English letters u instead of ü and o, and write Türkiye as Turkiye, but it is mostly seen in informal occasions.
In addition, it takes time to change the names on printed materials such as maps, flags, books, etc., and the workload is not small.
Anyone who has been to Turkey will be tempted by the Turkish revolving barbecue that can be seen everywhere (Photo / Deng Hong)
There is a deep meaning behind it
Since "changing the name" is so much trouble, is Turkey really just because it does not want to be ridiculed as a "turkey" anymore?
The answer, of course, is no.
Turkey's territory spans the Eurasian continent, which is the throat of east-west exchanges, and holds one of the world's most strategic waterways - the Bosphorus And Dardanelles, which has a pivotal role in the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea, and the ancestors are the once vast Ottoman Turkish Empire, which has always regarded itself as a regional power.
Geographical location of Turkey from a map (Source/Phoenix))
How important is the Bosphorus?
If you visit Istanbul, the only city in the world that spans two continents, board a cruise ship at the pier in the city center and enjoy the bosphorus scenery all the way to the mouth of the Black Sea, one of Turkey's famous excursions. The Bosphorus is full of water and soup, very a large river with wide waves, although the two sides belong to Eurasia, but they are the same forest, the Roman Empire and the Ottoman Empire left over from the ruins of the ancient castle stand on the steep shore wall, the gorgeous villas in the mountains are dotted with natural scenery and historical monuments.
A bridge over the Bosphorus Strait connects Eurasia (Source/Phoenix Network)
Istanbul teenager practicing diving by the river in summer (Source/Xinhua News Agency)
What is most impressive is that from the ship, at intervals, a large and bright red Turkish flag is erected on the buildings along the strait, as well as many low buildings. The strait is very windy, and these large and small flags are always blown hunting and flying, becoming a unique scenery in the strait.
Many years ago, I was in this situation, and like many ordinary tourists, I just felt that it was beautiful to have these red flags on both sides of the strait, and it was more picturesque to take pictures. However, when the Russian-Ukrainian conflict broke out, it suddenly dawned on the understanding that the two sides of the strait were Turkish territory, but the Bosphorus Strait was a waterway that "conditionally" allowed ships and warships of various countries to navigate, and the Turkish flags erected on both sides of the strait had another meaning - that is, a country's explicit declaration of territorial sovereignty!
The 30-kilometer-long Bosphorus Strait, with a maximum estuary of 3.7 kilometers in the north and only 700 meters at its narrowest point, together with the 68-kilometer-long Dardanelles Strait, constitutes a nearly 100-kilometer-long Turkish Strait, connected to the Marmara Sea in the south, through the Dardanelles To the blue Aegean Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, and to the north to the Black Sea. The strait is both a natural dividing line between Eurasia and a watershed between Eastern and Western cultures, as well as a meeting point between Islamic and Christian cultures. As the only passage out of the sea of the countries bordering the Black Sea, this place has always been a place of contention for soldiers. For whoever occupies the Bosphorus is the master of the Black Sea and the Eurasian Passage.
Tourists who are attracted by the scenery on both sides of the strait
Before the 17th century, the entire Black Sea was the inland sea of the heyday Ottoman Turkish Empire, when there was no dispute over the Turkish Strait, and since then, with the rise of Russia and European countries, the declining Ottoman Empire has been repeatedly hammered. By the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, the Ottoman Empire had become the "sick man of West Asia", and could only sign alliances under the city many times, cut up land and pay compensation, and open the Bosphorus Strait to navigation. Between 1919 and 1935, the Turkish Strait was largely an open sea, free access for warships and merchant ships of any country.
It was not until 1936, more than a decade after the founding of the Republic of Turkey, that Britain, France and the Soviet Union again negotiated the right of passage through the Turkish Strait and signed the Convention on the Strait System in Montreux, Switzerland. Ships sailing on the Bosphorus now operate under this Convention.
The Montreux Convention provides that merchant ships of all States may pass freely in the Black Sea Strait (i.e. the Bosphorus, the Dardanelles and the Sea of Marmara between them) in peacetime and wartime, but in time of war Turkey has the right to prohibit the passage of merchant ships of states fighting against it; In wartime, if Turkey remains neutral, belligerent warships are not allowed to pass through the strait; If Turkey enters the war, or if Turkey believes it is threatened by war, it is entirely up to the Turkish government to allow navigation. The Convention also specifies the tonnage of warships through straits between "Black Sea States" and "non-Black Sea States". The Convention delegates the authority of the International Committee to monitor the Straits to the Government of Turkey and lifts the undefended restrictions on the Straits Zone. This became a major figure in the history of Turkish diplomacy.
The Russian-Ukrainian conflict that erupted in February underscored the importance of Turkey's geographical location of "clinging to the throat of the Black Sea" overnight. After the conflict broke out, Turkey announced the closure of the Bosphorus Strait and the prohibition of any ships, forcing the Us fleet operating in the Black Sea to withdraw in a hurry, and Russian warships could not enter the Black Sea. On the surface, Russia's Black Sea Fleet has become an inland navy, but on the other hand, NATO ships have not been able to enter the Black Sea, and Turkey seems to have indirectly helped Russia.
A freighter is sailing from the Direction of the Black Sea into the Bosphorus
In the months since, Turkey has taken advantage of its close political and economic ties with Russia and Ukraine to play an important mediator role in the conflict: at the end of March, Russia and Ukraine held face-to-face talks in Istanbul, and the stalemate between the two sides made a breakthrough. In May, Sweden and Finland announced their application to join NATO, and Erdogan firmly opposed it. In June, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov visited Turkey to discuss a feasible plan for grain exports. The latest news on the 21st said that the four-party talks promoted by the United Nations on opening a Ukrainian grain export corridor in the Black Sea will be held in Istanbul next week, and Turkey, Russia, Ukraine and the United Nations will send representatives to participate. There are reports that the food export corridor is expected to be operational within a month, which will greatly help alleviate the current global food shortage...
"If everyone burns the bridge with Russia, who will communicate with them in the end?" At the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Karin said. Kalin pointed out that Turkey will do its best to bring Russia and Ukraine to an end to the conflict.
Perhaps, accurately grasping the "god-given opportunity" and highlight moment of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, Turkey is trying to get rid of the "turkey" and achieve the upgrading and transformation of the "rooster" and "battle chicken". Changing the name of a country is only one of the means.
In the view of Zou Zhiqiang, a researcher at the Middle East Research Center of Fudan University, Turkey's change of foreign name is mainly for political motivation and mobilizes nationalist sentiments; At a deeper level, it is a manifestation of identity politics.
On the other hand, incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced his bid for next year's general election. Turkey's current economic situation is grim, Erdogan's ruling justice and development party support is relatively low, in the face of the next round of general elections, the Turkish government at this time proposed to "change the name", there are certain "emotional cards" factors.
Why is it called an "emotional card"? What many people may not pay attention to is that the Republic of Turkey was founded in October 1923. In 2023, next year, the country will celebrate its 100th anniversary.
Since coming to power in 2003, Erdogan has tried to lead the Turks back to Ottoman traditions and on the road to revival. As early as 2011, he first proposed the Turkish dream with the "Centenary Vision 2023" as the core, clarifying the development goals of economy, society, politics and diplomacy; In 2013, the "2053 Outlook" was proposed to commemorate the 600th anniversary of the ottoman conquest of Istanbul; Later, he proposed a more ambitious "Millennium Goal for 2071" to build a global power...
Centennial celebration - the dream of rejuvenation - a global power. Turkey dares to think and dare to do it.
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Source 丨Yangcheng Evening News • Yangcheng Pie
Text/Picture 丨Su Biqing (except by signature)
Title map 丨 Xinhua News Agency
Responsible editor 丨 cold