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Place name changes in Turkey
Overview of geographical name changes in the Republic of Turkey / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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, Syriac, or Arabic origin.
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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.
This policy began during the final years of the Ottoman Empire and continued into its successor, the Turkish Republic. Under the Kemalist government, specialized governmental commissions were created for the purpose of changing names. Approximately 28,000 topographic names were changed, which included 12,211 village and town names, and 4,000 mountain, river, and other topographic names. Most name changes occurred in the eastern regions of the country where minority ethnicities form a large part or a majority of the population.