Turkish President Erdogan’s attempts to ban Turkey before Christmas is causing chaos in the international diplomatic community.

Turkey announced in June this year that as far as it was concerned, it was no longer called Turkey, and insisted that international partners accept that they have now rebranded themselves as Turkiye, which is pronounced tour-key-yeh.

The United Nations has already recognised the rebranding was suspended by the country’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu as a step towards increasing the country’s brand value.

He also admitted that the main reason for the name change was the turkey associated with Christmas dinners and American Thanksgiving celebrations.

He said another factor was the fact that it was a word that was also used to indicate failure.

Erdogan who is working for re-election next year believes that Turkiye is the best way of expressing the “civilisation culture and values of the Turkish nation.”

But the move is causing confusion internationally, with, for example, the US State Department occasionally using Turkiye and then later on reverting to using Turkey.

When challenged, they said how they refer to the country was less important compared to “how we speak about them and the important work we did together”.

When it was announced in June when Boris Johnson was still Prime Minister, he tweeted: “Good discussions with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. I welcome Turkiye’s agreement with Sweden and Finland.”

But shortly before that, the then Foreign Secretary Liz Truss had written: “Turkey is more important than ever.”

Sweden and Finland, which are hoping to join NATO and need Turkey to support them, are among the countries that have already adopted Turkiye.

In contrast, France, which is not looking for favours from Turkey, continues in international correspondence to call the country Turkey.

But the international confusion may be underlined by the fact that even Turkish officials are not 100 per cent clear on what the preferred name is.

The turkey – the bird – was originally named after it was introduced to Europe by the Spanish in the 16th century when it was credited as originating with the Turks.

Many things at that time were referenced when they originated in Turkey, and the bird, known as a Turkey Cock, was later shortened to simply become a Turkey.