Brit tourist hotspot changes name to ‘stop it being confused with an animal’ – do YOU know where you’re going on hols?

A POPULAR British hotspot has changed its name to stop it being confused with a festive bird.

Tourists visiting Turkey will need to get used to its new pronunciation – and its different spelling.

Going forward, Turkey will be referred to as Türkiye to more accurately represent the “country’s culture, civilization, and values” according to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was sent a letter this week from the Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu formally requesting the change.

The letter said: “Together with our Directorate of Communications, we have been successful in preparing a good ground for this.”

The name change came into effect immediately once it was received.

Cavusoglu told Anadolu Agency: “We have made it possible for the UN and other international organisations, countries to see this change to using ‘Türkiye’.”

President Erdogan made moves get the change underway in December.

He requested that all goods manufactured in the country must state ‘Made in Türkiye’.

Following the Turks annunciation guidelines, locals will pronounce the country’s name “Tur-key-yay“.

Selim Koru, from the Foreign Policy Research Institute, understands the president and his ministers are embarrassed by the country’s name being associated with the festive bird and used to describe “something that fails”.

He told : “Their claim is that Türkiye conveys Turkey’s eternal spirit more than the English word.”

But critics have accused President Erdogan of changing the name to distract residents from its economic hardship.

Turkey has been known by its current name since around 750AD and gave its name to the bird.

the Ottoman Empire exported ground-feeding cocks and hens n the Middle Ages, which prompted English-speakers to refer to the birds as Turkeys as they were from “the land of the Turks”.