I don´t think we use it that way. It never ever makes me think "hindi = turkey", not even once. I have never ever witnessed any joke based on such a resemblence so far.

Hind-istan = Land of "Hind"

Hint-li = From "Hind"

I am sure if we had a match with India and if we won, our press would joke about the name of the country. It would be same with Egypt. Possible headlines would be like these:

1) Dün menüde hindi vardı.

2)Dün gece mısır patlattık.

I am sure about this because people are same everywhere.

I´m not so sure.

Isn´t Spanish the most spoken language in the world? In any case, in Dutch we say "Turkije" which almosts sounds the same as Turkiye, and has nothing to do with animals. Calling The Netherlands Holland, in the official language is stranger. Holland is only two provinces of The Netherlands and some people don´t see themselves as Hollanders at all. Personally, I don´t know of many other language besides Turkey that officially call my country Hollanda. It´s like calling Turkey (the country) Eskisehir or Ankara. I think calling a country a name that is historically and geographically incorrect is stranger than calling a country something that might lead to jokes. In any case, Turkey the country was not named after turkey the animal. Turkey the animal was named after Turkey the country. However, I think Hindistan was named after hindi the animal.

It´s normal that whole countries are named after their central places. Even though it is illogical. It´s also normal that words accidentally overlap in a language without any naughty intentions behind. The most important justification for a certain place name to be used was mentioned somewhere in this thread, where was it wait...

Don´t waste your energy, people.

I think we need a general referandum about this name issue. Let the people decide and  what majority say should be accepted and impose the chosen name -whatever the chosen name- in international arena. However I dont see that sort of referandum would be held at the moment may be in the future when our people become more conscious about this issue. Honestly people have  other problems that an ordinary Turk would not be so careful on this issue. But I personally will keep my hope on that.

I didnt say " Turkish " is the most spoken language . I said " Hopefully [ Insallah ] Turkish shall become the most spoken language one day.

btw  I observed that Dutch people do learn Turkish faster than some other westerners.. How is  your Turkish Barbara ?

I meant Spanish as a global language, instead of English, not Turkish. My name isn´t Barbara lol, it says barba_mama, the name if a cartoon Funny, in this particular thread Anyway, I vote for calling Turkey something completely different. Turkey isn´t filled with Turks (ethnically) anyway, so how about a name that represents the rich culture of Turkey and it´s variety of people? And something ending with -stan is always nice... Perhaps something linking back to the Ottoman empire...

Ah, nooo, forget about it... in the case of a national name change Turkey would have to change the money... AGAIN.

Oh, and Dutch people tend to learn foreign languages faster, because we have foreign language education from a young age. We´re used to it. Turkey is somewhere in the middle when it comes to difficulty, compared to other languages I´ve learned. In my experience, Turkish is easy to learn for people who are good in Math...

sorry indians call their country BARAT;the french call turkey TURQUIE which has  absolutely nothing got to do with domestic fowl.i would´nt be worried if i were turkish i´ts a beautiful country and has a fabulous language and lovely people.

sorry indians call their country BARAT;the french call turkey TURQUIE which has  absolutely nothing got to do with domestic fowl.i would´nt be worried if i were turkish i´ts a beautiful country and has a fabulous language and lovely people.

I see that letter every now and then and I tought it was some kind of "L". Is it similar in Paweł as well?

Also found this page about it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%81