Geographical name changes in Turkey

Place name changes in Turkey have been undertaken, periodically, in bulk from 1913 to the present by successive Turkish governments. Thousands of names within the Turkish Republic or its predecessor the Ottoman Empire have been changed from their popular or historic alternatives in favour of recognizably Turkish names, as part of Turkification policies. The governments have argued that such names are foreign or divisive, while critics of the changes have described them as chauvinistic. Names changed were usually of Armenian, Greek, Georgian, Laz, Bulgarian, Kurdish ( Zazaki), Persian, Neo-Aramaic/ Syriac, or Arabic origin.

Turkey's efforts to join the European Union in the early 21st century have led to a decrease in the incidence of such changes from local government, and the central government even more so. In some cases legislation has restored the names of certain villages (primarily those housing Kurdish and Zaza minorities). Place names that changed formally have frequently persisted in local dialects and languages throughout the ethnically diverse country.

The policy of turkifiying non-turkish names already arose in the late stages of the Ottoman Empire. In the early years of the Republic, although the idea of ‘Turkification’ continued to receive interest and support at the ideological level, no significant steps were taken in practice except in isolated instances. Radical forms began in the 1950s. From this date onwards, Turkification was adopted as a ‘state policy’ that transcended political powers. Following the coup d'état of 27 May 1960, within four months, nearly 10,000 new village names were put into official use. Approximately one third of all place names in Turkey were changed before 1965. Some 12,000 villages and 4,000 neighboring settlements, some with thousands of years of history, as well as thousands of rivers, mountains and geographical shapes were given new Turkish names.

History

Ottoman Empire

The Committee of Union and Progress took the reins of the Ottoman government through a coup d'état in 1913. At the height of World War I and during the final years of the Ottoman Empire, when the ethnic cleansing policies of non-Muslim Greek, Armenian, and Assyrian minorities were underway, Minister of War Enver Pasha issued an edict (ferman) on 6 October 1916, declaring:

Enver Pasha did not change the geographical names belonging to Muslim minorities (i.e. Arabs and Kurds) due to the Ottoman government's role as a Caliphate. His decree inspired many Turkish intellectuals to write in support of such measures. One such intellectual, Hüseyin Avni Alparslan (1877–1921), a Turkish soldier and author of books about Turkish language and culture, was inspired by the efforts of Enver Pasha, writing in his book '' Trabzon İli Lâz mı? Türk mü?'' (Is the Trabzon province Laz or Turkish?) that:

It is not known how many geographical names were changed under the ordinance. The ultimate overarching objective behind it failed due to the collapse of the Ottoman government and trials of its leaders before Ottoman and European courts for massacres against ethnic minorities committed in 1915.

A decreased level of cultural repression has taken place in the Turkish Republic; however, non-mainstream Turkic origin place names have invariably been officially renamed over the course of time.

Republic of Turkey

Turkish nationalism and secularism were two of the six founding principles of the Turkish Republic. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the leader of the early decades of the Republic, aimed to create a nation state (Turkish: Ulus) from the Turkish remnants of the Ottoman Empire. During the first three decades of the Republic, efforts to Turkify geographical names were a recurring theme. Imported maps containing references to historical regions such as Armenia, Kurdistan, or Lazistan (the official name of the province of Rize until 1921) were prohibited (as was the case with ''Der Grosse Weltatlas'', a map published in Leipzig).

By 1927, all street and square names in Istanbul which were not of Turkish origin were changed.

In 1940 the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MoIA) issued a circular which called for original or foreign language place names to be substituted with Turkish place names. Journalist and writer Ayşe Hür has noted that after the death of Atatürk and during the Democratic period of the Turkish Republic in the late 1940s and 50s, "ugly, humiliating, insulting or derisive names, even if they were Turkish, were subjected to changes. Village names with lexical components meaning red (kızıl), bell (çan), church (kilise, e.g. Kirk Kilise) were changed. To do away with "separatist notions", the Arabic, Persian, Armenian, Kurdish, Georgian, Tatar, Circassian, and Laz village names were also changed."

''The Special Commission for Name Change'' (''Ad Değiştirme İhtisas Kurulu'') was created in 1952 under the supervision of the Ministry of the Interior. It was invested with the power to change all names that were not within the jurisdiction of the municipalities like streets, parks or places. In the commission were representatives from the Turkish Language Society (''Türk Dil Kurumu''), from the faculties geography, language and history from the Ankara University, the Military General Staff and the ministries of Defense, Internal Affair and education. The committee was working until 1978 and 35% of the villages in Turkey got their names changed. The initiative proved successful, as approximately 28,000 topographic names were changed, including 12,211 village and town names and 4,000 mountain, river, and other topographic names. Tunçel H., "Türkiye'de İsmi Değiştirilen Köyler," Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, Firat Universitesi, 2000, volume 10, number 2. This figure also included names of streets, monuments, quarters, neighborhoods, and other components that make up certain municipalities.
The committee was reinstated after the military coup of 1980 in 1983 and it changed the names of 280 villages. It was closed again in 1985 due to inefficiency. During the heightened tension between Kurdish rebels and the Turkish government, the focus of geographical name changing in the 1980s was on Kurdish villages, towns, rivers.etc.

In 1981, the Turkish government stated in the preface of ''Köylerimiz'', a publication dedicated to names of Turkish villages, that:

At the culmination of the policy, no geographical or topographical names of non-Turkish origin remained. Some of the newer names resembled their native names, but with revised Turkish connotations (i.e. Aghtamar was changed to Akdamar).

Current status

Although geographical names have been formally changed in Turkey, their native names persist and continue in local dialects throughout the country. At times, Turkish politicians have also used the native names of cities during their speeches. In 2009, when addressing a crowd in the town of Güroymak, president Abdullah Gül used the native name Norşin. Also that year, when talking about his family origins, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan used the native Greek name of Potamya instead of Güneysu.

Efforts at restoring the former names of geographical terms have been recently introduced in Turkey. In September 2012, legislation was introduced to restore the names of (primarily Kurdish) villages to their former native names. According to the bill, the province of Tunceli would be named Dersim, Güroymak would be named Norşin, and Aydınlar would be named Tilo. However, the Turkish Government authority later opposed the name Dersim, as the local municipality wanted to introduce the name Dersim for Tunceli.

Comparative analysis

Most of the geographical name changes occurred in the eastern provinces of the country and on the coast of the eastern Black Sea, where minority populations tend to live. Through independent study, etymologist Sevan Nişanyan estimates that, of the geographical location name changes, 4,200 were Greek, 4,000 Kurdish, 3,600 Armenian, 750 Arabic, 400 Assyrian, 300 Georgian, 200 Laz, and 50 others. The official statistics of ''The Special Commission for Name Change'' (Ad Degistirme Ihtisas Komisyonu) claim that the total number of villages, towns, cities, and settlements renamed is 12,211. The chart below lists the provinces and the number of villages or towns renamed.

Notable geographical name changes

Armenian

Armenian geographic names were first changed under the reign of Sultan Abdul Hamid II. In 1880, the word ''Armenia'' was banned from use in the press, schoolbooks, and governmental establishments, to be replaced with words like Anatolia or Kurdistan. Armenian name changing continued under the early Republican era up until the 21st century. It included the Turkification of last names, change of animal names, change of the names of Armenian historical figures (i.e. the name of the prominent Balyan family was concealed under the identity of a superficial Italian family called Baliani), and the change and distortion of Armenian historical events.

Most Armenian geographical names were in the eastern provinces of the Ottoman Empire. Villages, settlements, or towns that contain the suffix ''-kert'', meaning built or built by (i.e. Manavazkert (today Malazgirt), Norakert, Dikranagert, Noyakert), ''-shen'', meaning village (i.e. Aratashen, Pemzashen, Norashen), and ''-van'', meaning town (i.e. Charentsavan, Nakhichevan, Tatvan), signify an Armenian name. Throughout Ottoman history, Turkish and Kurdish tribesmen have settled into Armenian villages and changed the native Armenian names (i.e. the Armenian Norashen was changed to Norşin). This was especially true after the Armenian genocide, when much of eastern Turkey was depopulated of its Armenian population.

Sevan Nişanyan estimates that 3,600 Armenian geographical locations have been changed.

Syriac

Most Syriac name changes occurred in the southeast of Turkey near the Syrian border in the Tur Abdin region, and were changed from Neo-Aramaic (specifically Turoyo) to Turkish. After Sayfo, the Assyrian/Syriac Christians of the region were either depopulated or massacred. The following centuries were characterised by a state sponsored turkification, political instability and military intervention. As a consequence of these events, the migration to the West by the Syriac Community in Tur Abdin started to take place. It is estimated some twenty thousands Syriacs reside in Turkey. Around 2000-2500 Syriacs still reside in Tur Abdin while the majority, around 16,000, reside in Istanbul.

Many Syriac geographical name changes took place after the 1980 Turkish coup d'état, as part of nationalist efforts by the military-led government. Name changes were also extended to villages in the Tur Abdin region that were inhabited by the Mhallami, an Arabic-speaking tribal ethnic group who converted to Islam under pressure. Some examples of name changes include the villages of ''Dayro da-Slibo'' ( Çatalçam, Dargeçit), Ḥāḥ ( Anıtlı, Midyat), Bsorino ( Haberli, İdil), and Kafro Tahtoyo ( Elbeğendi, Midyat). In Tur Abdin, Ankara directs local officials to prioritize Syriac villages in infrastructure (e.g., paved roads for all Christian villages) and restore cultural rights. This is exemplified by changing back the turkified name of Alagöz, a Syriac village, to its old Aramaic name, Beth Kustan.

Nişanyan estimates that 400 Syriac geographical locations have been changed.

Georgian and Laz

The historical region of Tao-Klarjeti, which includes the modern provinces of Artvin, Rize, Ardahan and the northern part of Erzurum, has long been the center of Georgian culture and religion. Lazistan and Tao-Klarjeti, then part of the Georgian Principality of Samtskhe, was conquered by the Ottoman Empire in the middle of the 16th century. Due to linguistic differences, the new Ottoman administration in his (Province of Georgia) adapted Georgian geographical names in Ottoman-Turkish style. Some geographical names were changed so drastically that it has become almost impossible to determine its original form. Geographical name changes by the Ottomans became intense in 1913. After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in 1923, the new Turkish government continued old policy. The first attempts by Turkish republican officials to change Georgian geographical names began in 1925. The changes in geographical names periodically took place after 1959 and continued throughout of 20th century. Despite the fact that Georgians were making significant minority in the region, in 1927 the provincial council of Artvin banned Georgian language. The inhabitants however retained usage of old geographical names in colloquial speech.

Between 1914 and 1990, Turkish semi-autonomous bureaucratic regimes changed 33% geographical names in Rize and 39% in Artvin.

Nişanyan estimates that 500 Georgian and Laz geographical names have been changed to Turkish (300 Georgian, 200 Laz).

Greek

Many of the Greek names have maintained their origins from the Byzantine Empire and Empire of Trebizond era. Significant Greek name place changes in the Republic of Turkey include the city of Istanbul in 1930, which overtime has been called many Greek names such as ''Kōnstantinoúpolis'' () and ''Byzantion'' (, ). Another example is İzmir, which was changed from ''Smyrna'' ( ; ) in the early 20th century. In 2020, Greek sources alleged that former Turkish admiral Cihat Yaycı proposed renaming the Aegean Sea due to its Greek roots.

Nişanyan estimates that 4,200 Greek geographical locations have been changed, the most of any ethnic minority.

Kurdish

The Kurdish (and Zaza) geographical name changes were exempt under the Ottoman Empire due to the Islamic religious orientation of Kurds. During the Republican era and especially after the Dersim massacre, Kurdish geographical name changes became more common. During the Turkish Republican era, the word Kurdistan was banned, with some governments not acknowledging Kurds as an ethnic group. The Turkish government has periodically disguised the presence of the Kurds statistically by categorizing them as '' Mountain Turks''. This classification was changed to the new euphemism of ''Eastern Turk'' in 1980.

Nişanyan estimates that 4,000 Kurdish and Zaza geographical locations have been changed.

See also

*Nation state, a political concept rooted in Europe and influenced Turkey
* Animal name changes in Turkey
* Replacement of loanwords in Turkish
*Geographical renaming
* Geographical regions of Turkey
* Denial of Kurds by Turkey

Notes

References

Bibliography

*

External links

''Osmanlı Yer Adları''
Ankara 2017, a cross-listing of modern, Ottoman, and other historical place names in the Ottoman Empire (both within and outside modern Turkey)
Index Anatolicus: Map of Geographical locations of Anatolia with descriptions, etymology, and cultural origins (Turkish)List of Istanbul street name changes (Turkish)

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