The animal name changes in Turkey is the revision of taxonomic nomenclature of three
subspecies by the
Turkish Ministry of Environment and Forestry. The name changes removed references to
Armenia
Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ' ...
and
Kurdistan
Kurdistan ( ku, کوردستان ,Kurdistan ; lit. "land of the Kurds") or Greater Kurdistan is a roughly defined geo-cultural territory in Western Asia wherein the Kurds form a prominent majority population and the Kurdish culture, languages ...
in the
taxonomic nomenclature of subspecies of each animal.
La Recherche
''La Recherche'' is a monthly French language popular science magazine covering recent scientific news. It is published by the Société d'éditions scientifiques (the ''Scientific Publishing Group''), a subsidiary of Financière Tallandier. Tal ...
Numéros 393 à 398 Société d'éditions scientifiques (Paris, France) - 2006 - Page 96 "Ovis Armeniana devient Ovis Orientalis Anatolicus, Capreolus Capreolus Armenius se transforme en Capreolus Caprelus Capreolus, et Vulpes Vulpes Kurdistanicum, le renard roux du Kurdistan, s'appelle désormais en Turquie Vulpes ..."[ "The Ovis Armeniana (wild sheep) is now the Ovis Orientalis Anatolicus, while the roe deer, formerly known as Capreolus Capreolus Armenus, has become Capreolus Cuprelus Capreolus. These previous names have disappeared thanks to ..."]
History and reaction
The declared taxonomic nomenclature for the three subspecies is effective for the Turkish Environment and Forestry Ministry. According to a statement released by the same ministry on March 4, 2005, the original names were divisive and contradicted "Turkish unity".
Some Turkish officials have said that the original taxonomic nomenclature was intended in bad faith to imply that Armenians and Kurds resided in the areas where the animals lived.
However, only the scientific names of the animals were changed.
Andrew Polaszek
Andrew is the English form of a given name common in many countries. In the 1990s, it was among the top ten most popular names given to boys in English-speaking countries. "Andrew" is frequently shortened to "Andy" or "Drew". The word is derived ...
, the executive secretary of the
International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature, the organization responsible for establishing species naming conventions, has said in an interview
that acceptance of the revised names would depend upon article publications in
scientific journals, but that they were otherwise acceptable from a scientific viewpoint.
Revised taxonomic nomenclature
These changes currently affect only official taxonomic nomenclature usage by the Turkish Government.
See also
*
International Code of Zoological Nomenclature
The International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) is a widely accepted convention in zoology that rules the formal scientific naming of organisms treated as animals. It is also informally known as the ICZN Code, for its publisher, the ...
*
Place name changes in Turkey
*
Turkification
Turkification, Turkization, or Turkicization ( tr, Türkleştirme) describes a shift whereby populations or places received or adopted Turkic attributes such as culture, language, history, or ethnicity. However, often this term is more narrowly ...
*
Turkish nationalism
Turkish nationalism ( tr, Türk milliyetçiliği) is a political ideology that promotes and glorifies the Turkish people, as either a national, ethnic, or linguistic group. The term " ultranationalism" is often used to describe Turkish nationa ...
References
{{Turkish nationalism
Fauna of Turkey
Fauna of Europe
Anti-Armenianism in Turkey
Anti-Kurdish sentiment
Environment of Turkey
Linguistic purism
Turkish language
Turkish nationalism
Society of Turkey
Xenophobia
Zoological nomenclature