Geographical name changes in Turkey
Geographical 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, Bulgarian, Kurdish, Zazaki, Syriac, Yazidi 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. Place names that have formally changed frequently persist 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.
issued an edict in 1916 that all place names originating from non-Muslim peoples would be changed
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 on October 6, 1916, declaring:Enver Pasha did not change the geographical names belonging to Muslim minorities 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, 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? 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
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 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 were prohibited.By 1927, all street and square names in Istanbul which were not of Turkish origin were changed.
In 1940 the Ministry of Internal Affairs 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, bell, church 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 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, 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. 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.
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 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. But the Turkish Government authority was opposed to 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 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.| Province | Number | Province | Number | Province | Number | Province | Number | Province | Number |
| Erzurum | 653 | Kastamonu | 295 | Giresun | 167 | Amasya | 99 | Denizli | 53 |
| Mardin | 647 | Gaziantep | 279 | Zonguldak | 156 | Kütahya | 93 | Burdur | 49 |
| Diyarbakır | 555 | Tunceli | 273 | Bursa | 136 | Yozgat | 90 | Niğde | 48 |
| Van | 415 | Bingöl | 247 | Ordu | 134 | Afyon | 88 | Uşak | 47 |
| Sivas | 406 | Tokat | 245 | Hakkari | 128 | Kayseri | 86 | Isparta | 46 |
| Kars | 398 | Bitlis | 236 | Hatay | 117 | Manisa | 83 | Kırşehir | 39 |
| Siirt | 392 | Konya | 236 | Sakarya | 117 | Çankırı | 76 | Kırklareli | 35 |
| Trabzon | 390 | Adıyaman | 224 | Mersin | 112 | Eskişehir | 70 | Bilecik | 32 |
| Şanlıurfa | 389 | Malatya | 217 | Balıkesir | 110 | Muğla | 70 | Kocaeli | 26 |
| Elazığ | 383 | Ankara | 193 | Kahramanmaraş | 105 | Aydın | 69 | Nevşehir | 24 |
| Ağrı | 374 | Samsun | 185 | Rize | 105 | İzmir | 68 | Istanbul | 21 |
| Erzincan | 366 | Bolu | 182 | Çorum | 103 | Sinop | 59 | Edirne | 20 |
| Gümüşhane | 343 | Adana | 169 | Artvin | 101 | Çanakkale | 53 | Tekirdağ | 19 |
| Muş | 297 | Antalya | 168 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
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, 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, -shen, meaning village, and -van, meaning town, signify an Armenian name. Throughout Ottoman history, Turkish and Kurdish tribesmen have settled into Armenian villages and changed the native Armenian names. 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.
| Armenian name | Named changed to: | Notes |
| Govdun | Goydun | Armenian: "House of cows" |
| Aghtamar | Akdamar | Of unknown meaning Turkish: White vein |
| Akn | Eğin, later Kemaliye | Armenian: "Fountain" |
| Manavazkert | Malazgirt | Armenian: "City of Menua" |
| Vostan | Gevaş | Armenian: "Belongs to King" |
| Kayl Ket | Kelkit River | Armenian: "Wolf River". The village of Kelkit in the Gümüşhane Province also gets its name from the Kelkit River. |
| Norashen | Güroymak | Armenian: "New city". A proposal has been introduced to restore its former name. The Kurdish community of Güroymak claim it is a Kurdish native name called "Norşin". |
| Zeytun | Süleymanlı | Armenian: "Olive". Turkish: named after Turkish general Suleyman who captured the village in 1915. |
| Çermuk | Çermik | Armenian: "Hot springs" |
| Khachkar | Kaçkar | Armenian: Khachkar or cross-stone. |
| Everek | Develi | Derives from the Armenian word Averag meaning ruins. |
| Karpert | Harput, later Elâzığ | Armenian: "Rock fortress" |
| Ani | Anı | Historical capital of Bagratuni Armenia. Turkish: "Memory" |
| Sevaverag | Siverek | Armenian: "Black ruins" |
| Chabakchur | Bingöl | Armenian: "rough waters". Turkish: "Thousand lakes". Çabakçur was used until 1944. Kurds refer to the city as Çolig. |
| Metskert | Mazgirt | Armenian: "Big city" |
| Pertak | Pertek | Armenian: "Small castle" |
Assyrian
Most Assyrian name changes occurred in the southeast of Turkey near the Syrian border in the Tur Abdin region. The Tur Abdin is a hilly region incorporating the eastern half of Mardin Province, and Şırnak Province west of the Tigris, on the border with Syria. The name 'Tur Abdin' is from the Syriac language meaning 'mountain of the servants '. Tur Abdin is of great importance to Syriac Orthodox Christians, for whom the region used to be a monastic and cultural heartland. The Assyrian/Syriac people of Tur Abdin call themselves Suroye and Suryoye, and traditionally speak an Eastern Aramaic dialect called Turoyo.After the Assyrian genocide, the Assyrians of the region were either depopulated or massacred. Currently, there are 5, 000 Assyrians living in the region.
Nişanyan estimates that 400 Assyrian geographical locations have been changed.
region
| Assyrian name | Named changed to: | Notes |
| Kafrô Taxtaytô | Elbeğendi | Eastern Aramaic: "Lower Village" |
| Barsomik | Tütenocak | Named after Nestorian Patriarch Bar Sawma |
| Merdô | Mardin | Eastern Aramaic: "Fortresses" |
| Iwardo | Gülgöze | Eastern Aramaric: "Fountain of flowers" |
| Arbo | Taşköy | Eastern Aramaic: "Goat" |
| Qartmîn | Yayvantepe | Eastern Aramaic: "Middle village" |
| Kfargawsô | Gercüş | Eastern Aramaic: "Sheltered village" |
| Kefshenne | Kayalı | Eastern Aramaic: "Stone of peace" |
| Beṯ Zabday | İdil | Named after Babai the Great who founded a monastery and school in the region. |
| Xisna d'Kêpha | Hasankeyf | Eastern Aramaic: "Rock fortress" |
| Zaz | İzbırak | |
| Anḥel | Yemişli |
Greek
Many of the Greek names have maintained their origins from the Byzantine empire and Empire of Trebizond era.With the establishment of the Ottoman empire, many Turkish name changes have continued to retain their Greek origins. For example, the modern name "İzmir" derives from the former Greek name Σμύρνη "Smyrna", through the first two syllables of the phrase "εις Σμύρνην", which means "to Smyrna" in Greek. A similar etymology also applies to other Turkish cities with former Greek names, such as İznik, or even for the Greek island of Kos, called "İstanköy" in Turkish.
Nişanyan estimates that 4,200 Greek geographical locations have been changed, the most of any ethnic minority.
| Greek name | Named changed to: | Notes |
| Potamia | Güneysu | Greek: "River". On August 12, 2009, when talking about his family origins, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan used the native Greek name of Potamya instead of Güneysu. |
| Néa Phôkaia | Yenifoça | |
| Hadrianoupolis | Edirne | Greek: "City of Hadrian". Founded by Emperor Hadrian in about 123 A.D. Became temporary Ottoman capital after Ottoman conquest in 1363. |
| Kallipolis | Gelibolu | Greek: "Beautiful city". The city was founded in the 5th century B.C. |
| Makri | Fethiye | Greek: "long". Following the population exchange between Greece and Turkey, the Greeks of Makri were sent to Greece where they founded the town of Nea Makri. |
| Kalamaki | Kalkan | Until the early 1920s, the majority of its inhabitants were Greeks. They left in 1923 because of the exchange of populations between Greece and Turkey after the Greco-Turkish War and emigrated to Attica, where they founded the town of Kalamaki. |
| Konstantinoupolis | Istanbul | Greek: "City of Constantine". Founded by Emperor Constantine in 330 A.D. The name Istanbul has been in use since even before the 1453 Ottoman conquest. Different names of the city coexisted during the Ottoman times, until all names other than Istanbul became completely obsolete towards the late empire. |
| Neopolis | Kuşadası | It was known as Neopolis during the Byzantine era and later as Scala Nova or Scala Nuova under the Genovese and Venetians. |
| Nikaia | İznik | Named after the wife of Lysimachus. The Nicene Creed was named after the First Council of Nicaea, which met in the city in 325 A.D. |
| Nikomedeia | İzmit | Named after Nicomedes I of Bithynia, who re-founded the city in 264 B.C. |
| Sinasos | Mustafapaşa | In 1924, during the exchange of populations between Greece and Turkey, the Greeks of the town left to Greece and founded Nea Sinasos, a town in the northern part of the island of Euboea. |
| Smyrna | İzmir | Ancient Greek city located at a central and strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia. Greeks left the city after the Great Fire of Smyrna in 1922 to Greece |
The Prince Islands
| Prens Adaları
| During the Byzantine period, princes and other royalty were exiled on the islands, and later members of the Ottoman sultan's family were exiled there as well, giving the islands their present name. |
Kurdish and Zazaki
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 and Zaza geographical name changes became more common. During the Turkish Republican era, the words Kurdistan and Kurds were banned. The Turkish government had disguised the presence of the Kurds and Zazas statistically by categorizing them as Mountain Turks. This classification was changed to the new euphemism of Eastern Turk in 1980.Also included in the category of Kurdish geographical name changes are Zazaki, which is actually not among Kurdish. Nişanyan estimates that 4,000 Kurdish and Zaza geographical locations have been changed.
| Kurdish and Zazaki name | Named changed to: | Notes |
| Qilaban | Uludere | Kurdish: "Castellan" |
| Dersîm | Tunceli province | In September 2012, legislation was promulgated to restore the name of the province of Tunceli to Dersim. |
| Qoser | Kızıltepe | Kurdish: "Red mountain" |
| Şax | Çatak | Kurdish: "Tree branch" or "Mountain" |
| Êlih | Batman | |
| Karaz | Kocaköy | |
| Pîran | Dicle | Zazaki and Krd.: "Wise men" |
| Hênî | Hani | Hênî: Zaz. Spring |
| Dara Hênî | Genç | Dar: Tree, Hênî: Spring |
| Ginc | Kaleköy, Solhan | Inhabited by Zazas. The name comes from Middle Persian گنج "genc", which means treasure. This city should not be confused with the modern day city of Genç. Genc was the center of Bingöl Province between 1924–1927. In 1936 the city was moved to Dara Hênî where the Dara Hênî's name was ultimately changed to Genç. |
| Çolig | Bingöl | The meaning of the name is interpreted as somewhere that is in a deep valley. |
| Şemrex | Mazıdağı | Kurdish: "Road to Damascus " |
| Norgeh | Pazaryolu | Kurdish: "Place of light" |
| Amed | Diyarbakır | Armenians also refer to the city as Dikranagerd. |
| Colemêrg | Hakkari | Hakkari was known as Çölemerik in accordance with government records in 1928. Armenians refer to the city as Gghmar which was noted in Tovma Artsruni's History of the House of Artsrunik written in the 10th century. |
| Serêkaniyê | Ceylanpınar | Kurdish: "Head of spring " |
| Riha | Şanlıurfa | The city was referred to as Edessa in a 4th-century Greek text. It was also referred to as El-Ruha in a 7th-century Arabic text. The city was changed to Urfa. In 1984 the Turkish National Assembly changed its name to Şanlıurfa meaning Glorious Urfa in honor of the city's dedication to the Turkish War of Independence. |