The Turkish Minister of Education wants to rename the Aegean sea as "Sea of Islands" in school books. His claim is that the name Aegean is Greek in origin. Thoughts?

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TurkOmbre@reddit

For those comparing it to the name Izmir, Anatolia has nothing to do with it, since the Turks have always called these places by their original Greek names. However, the Aegean Sea is a different story; this Turkish name dates back to the 1940s. For the Turks, the Aegean Sea has always been the Mediterranean/the Sea of Islands (Adalar denizi).

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GoddessOfAffection@reddit

No, it has always been the Aegean Sea.

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TurkOmbre@reddit

Kaynağın ne peki ?

Ege denizinden bahseden en eski turk kaynaklari 1940’larda başlıyor. Daha erkenini bulamadım.

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GoddessOfAffection@reddit

Aegean kelimesi ve onun varyantları bütün dünya üzerinde kullanılan. Yunanca olsada artık küresel boyutta kabul edilmiş.

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TurkOmbre@reddit

Başta ‘it was always been the Aegean Sea’ ama.

Türkiye’den bahsediyorum ben, 1940’larda değişmiş bir tanımlama.

Dünya’ya göre hareket edeceksek Akdeniz ismini de değiştirelim o zaman, Mediterane olsun. Te allam ya

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GoddessOfAffection@reddit

Mediterranean gayet güzel bir isim

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TurkOmbre@reddit

Birazcık özgün olabilsen keşke

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frn8@reddit

I swear far right people on this earth are the dumbest race in history and in the future, they the only ones capable of even thinking this thing and make it a serious issue

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Young_Owl99@reddit

He doesn’t claim, the name is Greek in origin.

But so well Anadolu, which drive from Anatolia which is Greek.

With that logic we need to go massive name changes in our country.

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chato35@reddit

They love Ottoman Empire so much but don't understand how it worked.

İzmir to Smyrna while we are at it.

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Young_Owl99@reddit

Hmm I fear that next step will be calling İstanbul, Constantinople again.

I am not promoting Byzantine names lol.

I just say it is unrealistic.

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Inductee@reddit

The name Istanbul comes from Greek, too!

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Young_Owl99@reddit

I know, even İzmir. It is basically İsmirni actually. But that isn’t the point. The guy though I am promoting for Byzantine names.

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Nesciens10@reddit

Smyrna is not Greek etymologically, name was adopted later by Greeks; first recorded as Tismurna, either Luwic or Pre-Greek.

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Defiant_Being_9222@reddit

According to the most prevalent theory Smyrna comes from the Greek word Myrrh. Even if it is pre-Greek, pre-Greek doesn't mean non-Greek. The Greek language itself was created by merging proto indo european with pre-Greek.

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Ornery-Garlic-8218@reddit

Pre greek pretty much means non greek in this context, hellene as an identity was different from that of various indoeuropean anatolian peoples. Turkish widely used prior inhabitants names on geography as well.

Not that I disagree with you, but on a modern national perspective its much more understandable to differentiate pre greek and greek

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Defiant_Being_9222@reddit

Let me put it this way. Pre-Greek words have been in Greek for as long as Greek has existed. They were never really foreign to Greek. That's why it doesn't make sense to call them non-Greek.

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Ornery-Garlic-8218@reddit

Greeks are indo european tho, thats the point. Turkish/turkic of proto-turks since its epoch have proto-indo european and indo-aryan words as well through tocharians, schytians and so on, some core turkish/turkic words are in common with indo-aryans was and still in active usage and integral parts of turkic languages, that we can trace from ottoman sources to gokturk stones.

However that does not mean turkic is indo-european nor said indo-european languages part of turkish/turkic. Same goes to pre-greek. They are named pre-greek and pre-indo european for a reason

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Defiant_Being_9222@reddit

Greeks are indo european, but indo european isn't necessarily Greek. This proto-Greek tongue was a branch of Indo-European, but it doesn't make sense to consider it Greek, before its fusion with the pre-Greek vocabulary used in the geographical area that became known as Greece. Greek is a predominantly Indo-European language with a big non-Indo European component. The pre-Greek words were foreign to proto-Greek, but they were mever foreign to Greek.

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Ornery-Garlic-8218@reddit

Thats the case of most nomadic cultures that had their own ethnogenesis with a settled culture, that was the point of my example. They may be not foreign to Greek compared to proto-greek but they were foreign nontheless, hence why their language of another origin fizzled out except its remnants in modern greek.

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Defiant_Being_9222@reddit

Foreign to what? This is what you must define. I am saying it wasn't ever foreign to Greek. If you want to argue it was foreign to pre-Greek then fine. You can't say language A is foreign to lamguage B if A and B have never existed at the same time.

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Ornery-Garlic-8218@reddit

You can tho, foreign simply means, shortly, a difference in characteristics. Pre greek and greek belong to two different language families and as you have said are on two different time. Thats what makes them foreign.

Like, not being foreign bcs never existing on same time is kind of arbitrary, would you say turkish, ancient greek and proto-indo european are not foreign to each other linguistically ?

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Defiant_Being_9222@reddit

I would say Turkish, ancient Greek and proto-indo-european are neither foreign nor non-foreign. You simply cannot compare them or define them in this sense. Being foreign implies existing at the same time. Why? Because for something to be definable as foreign to A, it must also be possible to theoretically be non-foreign to A. When you use this term to compare things from different times, it isn't possible (definable) for them to be non-foreign to each other. If you can't define one word in this context, you can't define its opposite either.

This is why it is is a illogical to call pre-Greek foreign to Greek. Pre-Greek existed before Greek did. You cannot claim that one of the components that shaped Greek, responsible for its very existence, is foreign to Greek.

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Nesciens10@reddit

Myrrh is also non-Greek, Beekes describes it as Pre-Greek. Also, that is folk etymology, oldest attested name is Tisimurna.

And that is not really how language formation works. There was already a Proto-Greek before Greek speakers entered the Aegean and modern Greece. Greek is a direct continuation of that Indo-European language not a fusion language “created” by mixing with Pre-Greek. The large number of Pre-Greek loanwords only reflects substrate influence and the notable presence of earlier populations and civilizations there, not the linguistic origin of Greek itself. Greek remains fundamentally an Indo-European language with a substantial substrate layer

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Defiant_Being_9222@reddit

That's the problem with this logic. A huge part of the Greek language is pre-Greek. But these words weren't ever foreign to Greek. They have been used in Greek for as long as Greek has existed. Pre-Greek spoken in the Pontic steppes absolutely doesn't count as Greek. We don't even know what that tongue looked like. The oldest version of Greek we can see is Mycenaean Greek. If a word is used in Mycenaean Greek and doesn't belong to a distinct foreign contemporary language , then it's Greek by definition. Before that time Greek didn't exist in its known form.

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Nesciens10@reddit

We do know the overall structure of Proto-Greek reasonably well through comparative linguistics so that sound laws, morphology, and etymologies can be reconstructed systematically. Saying “we know nothing about Proto-Greek” is simply incorrect, unattested does not mean unknowable.

And you are still conflating being part of Greek vocabulary with being of Greek origin. A Pre-Greek loanword used in Mycenaean is still etymologically Pre-Greek, just as English words like “algebra” remain Arabic in origin despite being fully naturalized in English.

Again, Proto-Greek is not some hypothetical Pontic language unrelated to Greek, it is the reconstructed ancestor of Greek. Proto-Greek would have been spoken shortly before Greek speakers entered the peninsula in the Balkans, while the stage in the Pontic steppe would be pre-Proto-Greek. Mycenaean is simply the earliest attested form of Greek, not the moment Greek suddenly came into existence just as Latin predates and gave rise to the Romance languages.

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Defiant_Being_9222@reddit

"Saying “we know nothing about Proto-Greek” is simply incorrect, unattested does not mean unknowable"

I never said any of those things. We can theorize and make deductions about how the language may have sounded like, but we absolutely don't have any evidence of it being used prior to Mycenaean times. So we can maybe approximate some aspects of it, but that's it. It is quite a stretch to call this primitive language Greek. It was proto-Greek, a branch of proto-Indo-european and we should leave it at that. Greek is a mixture of proto-Greek and pre-Greek.

But the problem is that you define Greek is proto-Greek. I never said pre-Greek words can be considered proto-Greek, but they can (and must) be considered Greek, because they were never foreign to the Greek language, during its existence.

These people, the Proto-Greek speakers weren't even Greeks. Their language must have been considerably different, given that words like θάλασσα and γλώσσα wouldn't be used back then. We don't really know what these people said. We know the proto-indo-european roots of words but we don't know which ones they may or may have not utilized. This is a different language to Greek. Greek came into existence when the pre-Greek vocabulary flooded the pre-Greek, which was a branch of Indo-European, not yet separated from its family. Before that, the language would have been in many aspects unrecognizable. We use the Mycenaean tablets as a point of reference because we simply don't know what was spoken before the Mycenaean civilization.

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Nesciens10@reddit

Just because you say it like that does not make it correct. Greek is not a mixture of Proto-Greek and Pre-Greek, just as English is not a mixture of Latin and Anglo-Saxon simply because it contains many Latin words. “Unattested before Mycenaean” also does not mean “not Greek.” By that logic, Latin only becomes Latin once we find inscriptions, which is obviously not how historical linguistics works.

Proto-Greek is called Proto-Greek because it is the direct ancestor of Greek, not some random Indo-European branch. I am repeating myself but Mycenaean did not magically appear from nowhere after a vocabulary “flood.” It is the first written stage we have and not the birth certificate of the language.

And yes, words like thalassa and glossa are indeed Pre-Greek in origin and currently adopted into Greek language. The point is etymology. “Used by Greeks” and “Greek in origin” are not the same thing. You keep collapsing those two categories and then arguing against a point I am not making.

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Defiant_Being_9222@reddit

Greek is literally a mixture of proto-Greek and pre-Greek. This is a scientifically attested fact. Your comparison with English is flawed. English is a Germanic language (not just vaguely indo european, but it belonged to an existing established culture of Europe), and arrived in the region during the 5th to 7th century AD with Germanic invaders, while Latin was already being spoken in England, and while it was a distinct language compared to its contemporary German. None of these things happened with Greek. Proto-Greek arrived in Greece fresh off its indo-european family. It wasn't an established language, it was just an indoeuropean branch not yet separated, definitely not belonging to an established distinct culture. Greek as a culture emerged with the Mycenaeans, including the language.

Proto-Greek is called as such because it is distinct from Greek, it is a premature version of the indo-european chain that led to Greek. Nothing more than that. I didn't say Greek exists only as as far back as we can read it, but it certainly doesn't exist before the Mycenaean culture emerged. Mycenaeans spoke Greek before they wrote it, but even then they were already speaking a language with the pre-Greek words included.

The problem with your point is that these words weren't just used by Greeks, they were a necessary component for Greek to be considered Greek in the first place. Their origin was pre-Greek, while most words had proto-Greek origins. It doesn't make sense to speak of Greek origin, at a time when Greek culture didn't even exist.

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Nesciens10@reddit

You are still confusing ethnogenesis, culture, attestation, linguistic descent…

A language does not need a fully formed established culture to be linguistically distinct. Proto-Greek was already the specifically Greek branch of Indo-European because it had undergone the developments that separate Greek from the other Indo-European branches. That is exactly why scholars call it Proto-Greek, not generic Indo-European.

And no, Pre-Greek loanwords were not “necessary for Greek to be Greek.” They were part of the historical vocabulary of Greek, yes, but that does not make Greek a “mixture language” in the way you are presenting it. Substrate influence is not the same thing as co-creation; this is the scientific consensus, whether you accept it pr not is up to you.

You keep treating Mycenaean culture as if it created the Greek language. It did not and it is simply the first major Greek speaking culture we can see clearly in the record. Greek culture and Greek language are related but they are not the same category.

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Defiant_Being_9222@reddit

Pre-Greek and Greek were definitely distinct enough to be considered different languages, and they there wasn't a smooth evolution from one to the other, it was a pretty abrupt flooding of proto-Greek with pre-Greek vocabulary which transformed the language. You can call that what you want, but the fundamental reality remains the same. Proto-Greek simply wasn't Greek. It was the skeleton of Greek, nothing more. Linguists call it proto-Greek because it is part of the Greek branch of proto indo european. This is what "branch" means in this context. If it was just plain, undifferentiated proto indo european it wouldn't be called "branch". It certainly does not mean "Greek dialect".

No, I never said Mycenaeans created the Greek language, but they were the first civilization to speak it. Whatever tribes existed before the Mycenaeans, or to be more precise, before the pre-Greek language came into contact with proto-Greek, certainly did not speak Greek. As I see it we will keep running in circles as long as you insist on defining proto-Greek as just early Greek.

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Nesciens10@reddit

Haha okay. Keep thinking that if you want. Your national bias is clearly clouding your judgement here.

The scientific literature is out there, and people who know the topic understand the distinction. You are not correcting me, you are just redefining basic terms until they fit your argument.

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Defiant_Being_9222@reddit

Lmao, you speak of national bias, when you are fighting tooth and nail to dehellenize a big chunk of the Greek language by defining everything non-Indo-European (from a time when the very concept of Greekness didn't exist) as non-Greek. Your entire argument is literally to try to define proto-Greek as Greek, pretending like the mixing with pre-Greek was just a minor alteration. The consensus is it was a transformative event, that created a different language, Greek. I am sorry to not concede that words that have been part of Greek forever, like glossa and thalassa are in fact non-Greek. What can I say... Re-read your own literature.

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Nesciens10@reddit

You are still arguing with a strawman. Nobody is “dehellenizing” anything. I love Greek language and the culture. Greek words of Pre-Greek origin are still Greek words now but they are not Greek in origin. That distinction seems to keep escaping you.

The “consensus” is not that Greek was suddenly created by a magical mixing event. Greek is classified as Indo-European because it descends from Proto-Greek.

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Defiant_Being_9222@reddit

I don't care if you love or hate Greek, the point is you are attempting to retroactively dismantle it by breaking it down into a "Greek" and a "non-Greek" component, attributing clearly Greek city names to this "non-Greek" component. You falsely define Greek as solely Indo-European in origin in order to achieve that. I am not going to speculate about the reasons.

Greek is classified as Indo-European and Greek origin = Indo-European origin are very different arguments.

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Nesciens10@reddit

The English example is not flawed, you just misunderstood the point of comparison.

The point is not that English and Greek had the exact same history. The point is that loanwords/substrate words do not change the genetic classification of a language. English is still Germanic despite massive Latin/French vocabulary. Greek is still Indo-European, specifically descended from Proto-Greek, despite Pre-Greek substrate vocabulary.

“Not an established culture” is irrelevant, languages do not become languages only when archaeology gives you a distinct civilization label. Proto-Greek was already distinct from other Indo-European branches.

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Defiant_Being_9222@reddit

You misunderstood my argument. The English example is flawed, because as I said, Latin and Germanic have existed as separate languages (that's why I emphasized the distinct civilizations). This allows us to say that a Latin word was foreign to German and vice versa. However, when it comes to Greek, it simply didn't exist at the same time as the pre-Greek language, but after it. Therefore, a word that was once pre-Greek, has been part of Greek for the entire history of Greek. We simply cannot call such a word "foreign" or "non-Greek", when it was part of Greek ever since Greek was formed.

When it comes to the English analogy, your entire premise is wrong btw, because the Roman era latin substrate was almost completely ignored by the Germanic language that took its place. You would be surprised by how many old English words had Latin origin. The influx of Latin came later, with the Normans, long after English had become an organized, established language.

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Nesciens10@reddit

Simply not true again. Repeating it doesn’t make it correct.

Check Beekes, Furnee, Chantraine, Rix, Fortson, etc. Scholars can and do distinguish Proto-Greek, Pre-Greek substrate, and later Greek. That is literally the point of comparative linguistics.

You are acting like “part of Greek vocabulary” means “Greek.” It does not.

Also it’s funny, I never said English got most of its Latin vocabulary from Roman Britain. I am obviously referring to later Latin/French influence. The analogy was to show that heavy borrowing does not change genetic classification. English stayed Germanic despite massive Romance vocabulary. Greek stayed Indo-European despite Pre-Greek substrate vocabulary. That is the comparison, if you still can’t get this, good luck…

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Defiant_Being_9222@reddit

I agree these 3 languages are distinguished. You are the one who seems to define proto-Greek as Greek, and that's what I have been calling out.

Part of the Greek vocabulary does not mean Greek. I agree. However, part of the Greek vocabulary for the entirety of the Greek language's existence, absolutely means Greek.

If that's your English argument, honestly, it falls flat on its face. The comparison is even more absurd, because English was already an organized and established language long before the Latin of the Normans started flooding in. Latin wasn't at all part of the genesis of the English language, in the way that pre-Greek was part of the genesis of Greek. I don't even need to appeal to English's Germanic origins.

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Nesciens10@reddit

Keep writing the same thing over and over again, it might convince the other people for sure.

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Defiant_Being_9222@reddit

I don't need to personally convince them Your argument is so absurd that it is trying to portray 30-40% of Ancient Greek as non-Greek, despite it being spoken long before the concept of Greekness came to exist. And you are one to speak of national bias...

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Yar0mir@reddit

Ataturkinopolis.

Wait wh

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Significant-Ad-7182@reddit

Wouldn't Selçuk be called Ephesus instead? Or rather in our case Efes?

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AcceptablePromise242@reddit

You know, they are not the same places. Right?

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Significant-Ad-7182@reddit

Ephesus is in Selçuk. Or rather right next to it.

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AcceptablePromise242@reddit

Right next to it doesn't mean they are one. Also, Ephesus city was almost abondoned when Seljuks took it. Even the Byzantines were calling the vicinity as Hagios Theologios, by the name of a basilica nearby; not by the city's name. Plus, Selçuk was name is rather new, it was called Aya Suluk. Again a Turkified version of Hagios Theologios.

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Young_Owl99@reddit

Calm down I am not for changing name of Aydın to Ephesus either. It was an obvious joke. He just made my joke more accurate.

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capracucinciiezi@reddit

Efes Pilsner the best Seljuk beer in the... Oh wait. :))

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Young_Owl99@reddit

Ssh…Yes. But I forced myself to assign it to a city and İzmir was occupied but I even messed that up because…well there is Miletus.

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chato35@reddit

If you wanna go all the way, I am quite sure they had names before theGreeks Romans and the Turks.

As the song goes..... It's ístanbul not Constantinople.

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ChaosKeeshond@reddit

But why stop there? The Ottoman Empire was just what happened when our culture was invaded and hacked up by Arabs. If we wanna rewind, let's really rewind and bring back Orkhon Script.

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tokalper@reddit

Even İstanbul is from greek "eis ten polin" menaing to the xity or in the city something. Edirne is the same way

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Kitsooos@reddit

Is Nikomidia --> Isnikumid --> Izmit

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tokalper@reddit

Yea it appears to be so. Turkish words derived from other languages when the word has x s sound in the start it tends to be converted as "is" "iz" like İzmir - Smyrna so depending on how nikomidia is pronounced in greek i dont see why now

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Kitsooos@reddit

Εις = Is = To/Toward. Is Nikomidia = To(wards) Nikomidia.

Is Spartin --> Isparta
Is Amison --> Samsun
Is tin Poli --> Istanbul
Is Nikea --> Iznik

etc.

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tokalper@reddit

But the jump from Niko -> isnik iznik i cannot see how

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the_lonely_creeper@reddit

To the city, yes.

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Significant-Ad-7182@reddit

I prefer İzmir because it sounds like Ysmir from Skyrim.

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desertedlamp4@reddit

They Arabized the name of Hagia Sophia instead, I know it's not the full name of it but they call it kabir-i camii şarifii or something lol

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huggugu@reddit

İts make sense. Turks normally dont change name but always make exeptions. Because its has to be. Someone craving for that. New name indicate its ours. So this decleration basicly just warning. Greeks ask for help from israel and usa. Have you notice greek army vechiles in our border, sent by america

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dartov67@reddit

This is basic strongman inflammatory/reactionary politics. You can see this with people like Ben Gvir or Trump. The tactic is to say something completely unreasonable and inflammatory, something that will galvanize the people who agree with you but enrage the people who don’t, making them less likely to compromise or work with you. By doing so, you say, “hey, look, the opposition won’t even come to the negotiating table! They’re the bad guys, clearly we’re justified in being hardliners!” Which swings more people to your side.

As a word of advice, people don’t stop here. This is the beginning of a reactionary hardliner and he’ll gain undo confidence from this especially if Greece responds somehow. Hell get even more radical, and as you astutely pointed out, he *will* want to start renaming things like the Hagia Sophia. These people are cancers who will take your country to war for votes and seats.

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SnooMuffins4587@reddit

No need to hate on greek tbh. There are baklavaki sarmaki tzatziki as well.

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yalnzaylak@reddit

Kutsal Bilgelik is a name you would see on an anime gacha character that would be sacrificed 5 minutes after their debut only to come back in the final scene to reset everything lol

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Ornery-Garlic-8218@reddit

Fate series ahh

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Young_Owl99@reddit

Thanks for make us imagine that lol.

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Angeronus@reddit

I am going to have to assume that the name change is probably for psychological and propaganda reasons linked to the disputes Turkey has in the Aegean Sea. Doesn't sound so good if you claim something with a foreign name, it implies that it is not yours. Best to use a name that was used during the Ottoman Empire time, makes the claim more "legitimate" and "reasonable". The rest of the cities and regions you mentioned are not under any dispute, so there is no need for them to change.

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Young_Owl99@reddit

You don’t need to assume that’s the reason. Isn’t it look weird when we only change that Greek name.

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Inside_Staff489@reddit

not a nonsense. in fact i support all these changes and purification of the turkish language

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Young_Owl99@reddit

Start with Arabic and Persian then and French. They have much much more influence than Greek actually. It is not realistic also unnecessary.

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Inside_Staff489@reddit

only %21 influence. the rest is still turkish. But yeah, we already have equivelant words for them in turkish. for example some say "uçangöz" is a dumb translation for drone but drone a smart word either. it literally means male bee.

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Young_Owl99@reddit

In that %21 there are extremely fundemental things.

The words for “hello” both merhaba and selam are Arabic. And no nobody use esenlikler.
The word for “and” is Arabic. Ve is Arabic.
The word for national “milli” is Arabic.
The word “yani” which we use so much is Arabic.

Should I need to go further…

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loathingk@reddit

This man languages

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Inside_Staff489@reddit

Some people use esenlikler
the equivelant for the word "milli" is "ulusal" and we use it a lot. (bkz. "ulusal egemenlik ve[yene is the equivelant of the word "ve" çocuk bayramı)
Atatürk helped us to purify a lot. Now we should continue it

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capracucinciiezi@reddit

This purification is dumb. No offense. Foreign influences enrich a language and a culture. A so called purification only make it sound fake and forceful.

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Inside_Staff489@reddit

It is easier for you to say since y'all speak indo-european languages and your language is not really much influenced

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CharMakr90@reddit

What are you talking about?

Between 20-30% of Romanian vocabulary comes from non-Romance languages, including Slavic languages, Hungarian, Greek, and even Turkish.

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Inside_Staff489@reddit

Slavic languages, Greek and even germanic loan words are still indo-european. Aint got nothing much to say about hungarian and turkish influence but still majority of your words still indo-european therefore pure

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Young_Owl99@reddit

We entered a region of indo European speaking countries, where would our loadwords come from ?

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Inside_Staff489@reddit

it can change right? loanwords came and then they will go

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Young_Owl99@reddit

You want us to invent words. Because nomadic people prone to assimilation. That happened to us. Not by Greeks though. By Persians waaay before them. But it did happen.

Only way we can do what you want is to invent words at this point because even central Asian countries use tons of loanwords, mainly Russian and Persian.

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Inside_Staff489@reddit

well actually tuvan, yakut and kazakh has lots of words that we can shape and use it.

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CharMakr90@reddit

Why are you placing the bar at "Indo-European" to attribute the random factor of "purity" to anything within it?

Languages like Sanskrit, Irish, and Farsi are also Indo-European. Does this mean that any word coming to Romanian from these languages is "pure"? Do words like nirvana, hooligan, and bazaar count as pure Romanian words?

Language purism is a specific thing referring to using vocabulary specific to the language in question and no other language, whether it's related to it or not. A Turkish equivalent would be using kent instead of şehir.

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Inside_Staff489@reddit

kent is sogdian. and yeah it would be counted as pure since they are all indo-european

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TigerOfEU@reddit

If you want to be truly pure you need to return to the central asian steppes, no?

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Inside_Staff489@reddit

No, far before, sakas and some other turkic tribes used to live in anatolia

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TigerOfEU@reddit

Sakas are iranian, and did not live in Anatolia. Hope it helps

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Inside_Staff489@reddit

The situation and arguments about sakas are highly controversial, with that being said sakas are mostly turkic and lived in eastern and inner anatolia

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TigerOfEU@reddit

The saka language is well attested and it absolutely belongs in the iranian family group. This is not a debate. They were not turkic.

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Inside_Staff489@reddit

As i said, you can't use statements like "absoloutly" because it is a debated subject

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TigerOfEU@reddit

It's only debated in Turkey, same as with the armenian genocide

We have good knowledge of their language and script, like I said

> Khotanese script is attested in over 2,300 extant manuscripts found in Dunhuang, among

https://web.archive.org/web/20190614224436/http://www.unicode.org/L2/L2015/15022-khotanese.pdf

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capracucinciiezi@reddit

You know how soup is named in Romanian? Supă and... ciorbă, from Turkish. Not to mention the different huge amount of other influences we have in our language, culture and genetics.

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Nesciens10@reddit

Sinop is from old Anatolian languages or Pre-Anatolian. For the rest you are right, pointless name change.

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Affectionate-Arm-405@reddit

Fener neighborhood

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More_Ad_5142@reddit

One of the 7 geographical regions is called Aegean, too. The other 4 are also based on Greek toponyms. Are we going to rename them, too? This dude is the most regressive Education Minister we had in years. He is just karma farming as we are nearing elections

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freddo_expresso@reddit

Anadolu is from Greek Anatolé meaning "East".

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funstufffff@reddit

Yeah, our Turkish literature teacher used to bullshit us in school that the name is Anadolu, because in Turkish it means “ ana dolu (full of mothers)”, because it’s like the bosoms of our mothers, it embraces us and more stupid stuff like that. Imagine our shock when we learned it’s just Anatolia, the east, where the sun is rising in Greek lol.

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freddo_expresso@reddit

I was in Samos and went on a day trip to Ephesus with a local tour guide. The Turkish guide was giving us a short history lesson on Anatolia, and told us the name comes from an ancient Anatolian tribe that worshipped the sun. All the Greeks were looking at eachother like "who is going to tell her..", but we didn't say anything as to not embarrass her.

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funstufffff@reddit

Well technically, she wasn’t wrong lol. I hope tour guides get replaced by AI first.

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freddo_expresso@reddit

What do you mean she wasn't wrong 🥀

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funstufffff@reddit

I mean Greeks worshipped to Apollo who was pretty much the god of the sun (I know not exactly) but in technicality she is not right but also not wrong.

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More_Ad_5142@reddit

Yes I know. And if you tried to change that, you’d be the laughingstock of the entire nation. This dude is such a regressive boot licking populist person but pretends to be cool headed and reasonable. I hate him, he is the worst education minister we ever had. If you are so upset about “Aegean”, why not go ahead and change Istanbul, Marmara, Anatolia or Trabzon, too? You wouldn’t, so just STFU.

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xzxnz@reddit

So is Anatolia, Istanbul and Ankara.

This is so fucking petty and dangerous tbh.

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Frank_cat@reddit

Black Sea: Sea without islands! 🤣🤣🤣

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Ornery-Garlic-8218@reddit

To be honest, aegean is kinda full of islands, on japan level. Sea with minimal amount of islands is probably norm lol

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Frank_cat@reddit

Sea with NO islands though? Like the Black Sea?
A sea with many islands is not rare: Japan as you said, Philippines, Indonesia, Hawai etc.
So a closed sea with no islands whatsoever, could be named Sea without islands!

Your minister of education should consider it. ROTFL

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Ornery-Garlic-8218@reddit

Its rare tho, hawai, phillipines and indonesia are in the middle of ocean, japan is on the corner of asia. Mediterranean lacks islands compared to aegean, red sea, most of ocean around india, arabian gulf etc.

Islands sea was what turkmens called aegean given rest of the seas they saw lacked island amount, as you have said black sea and eastern med and so on.

Not that I agree with dear minister lmao, but historically that naming exists on turkish records. You can compare it to asia minor, calling anatolia little asia had a similar thought process but there are other minor parts of asia as well.

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Final-Nebula-7049@reddit

ankara comes from ankuwas. predates greeks to hittite times. greeks, like turks, renamed it to greekify it.

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Iapetus404@reddit

Actually Romans rename it as Ankara in 189BC and give it to Galatians as capital city of they region.

In Greek Ankara city and anchor spelling the same.

A story said that Greek language borrow anchor from the city Ankara because it was an invention of King Midas.

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ayayayamaria@reddit

Yes, but your spelling comes from the Greek one, not from the original one, otherwise it'd be closer to Ankuwas than Ankyra. A lot of Greek names for Anatolian cities are ultimately from non-Greek languages, but you never heard those languages and you did not take the names from them, but from Greek.

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Final-Nebula-7049@reddit

Would make zero sense to call it an anchor so same as Istanbul, sure it makes sense in your language but not exactly the root. Hitties lived there and we didn't just decide to change the name after they were gone

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iwantpizzaandyou@reddit

Bro Istanbul is definitely not a Hittite name…

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Final-Nebula-7049@reddit

I didn't say it was. I said Istanbul sounds Turkish from the meaning we associated but it's Greek. Just like Ankara is not Greek but sounds it.

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SnooMuffins4587@reddit

It's just pointless to argue about it in this manner.

Wherever It's coming from doesnt matter in grand shape of history. Yes it was, but so what? Nobody did put Anatolia into their backpack and go wherever they went, just like we did not do it for Far East to Anatolia.

Who cares

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Final-Nebula-7049@reddit

literally the topic of the thread.

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ayayayamaria@reddit

You're not getting what I'm saying, are you? I'm saying you can't dismiss Greek influence because "akchewally they're Hittite!" (debatable), because you didn't get anything directly from them, you got all of them through Greek whether you like it or not, and thus there's always going to be Greek influence no matter how much you dislike that fact.

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Final-Nebula-7049@reddit

i have no problem with greek influence in turkey. i'm just pointing out that greeks were influenced by hittites first.

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WanaxAndreas@reddit

Well , Peloponnese is literally named after a Lydian king . Also in Tsakonian one word they have for a shade of blue is of Hittite origin kuvana possible related to another Greek word kyanos for blue

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xzxnz@reddit

It's almost certain it comes from the greek word Ἄγκυρα (anchor), what you say it's a theory that has been suggested but not really proven yet and is speculated.

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Nesciens10@reddit

There’s no sound explanation for it deriving from Ἄγκυρα in Greek but a form of the name used and documented by the Hittites (albeit for a different place) suggests it most likely originated from Anatolian languages rather than Greek, as has been speculated

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Iapetus404@reddit

In Greek Ankara city and anchor spelling the same.

A story said that Greek language borrow anchor from the city Ankara because it was an invention of King Midas.

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freddo_expresso@reddit

"Greekify"... It's called Hellenized.

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Final-Nebula-7049@reddit

That's hella good

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Several_Score_4278@reddit

Ankara?

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SikkoDieri@reddit

And İzmir

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FlakyContribution345@reddit

Turkey is greek

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O_Nontas_Eimai@reddit

Why the hell do politicians want such conflict when clearly people from both countries have no problem being neighbours?

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SupremeLeader55@reddit

Μπρο ο μέσος τούρκος είναι φανατικός εθνικιστής που θέλει να καταστραφούμε, τι εννοείς δεν υπάρχει κανένα πρόβλημα;

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ZetheS_@reddit

that's a lie lol average turk doesnt care about greeks or greece.

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SupremeLeader55@reddit

Lmao tell that to your fellow citizens. All I see is hate from you

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Yarrrak31@reddit

We should have changed all the Greek names in the early republic era. All of them are in common usage now. There are literally people named Ege, Atlas and shit. And all those city and region names... The language is infested with Greek words too

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GoddessOfAffection@reddit

Greek is a beautiful language. What is your problem with it?

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Katatoniac@reddit

While you're at it you should also change every Greek term used in medicine, science, literature, culture, etc.... good luck

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Suspicious_Plum_8866@reddit

Do you think America should change and remove all the city and state names that are derived from native. Americans ?

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Yarrrak31@reddit

I do

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Suspicious_Plum_8866@reddit

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

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radjPpP@reddit

Can’t really explain how sad this shit makes me honestly…can we just stop? Like why are we so hell bent on distancing us from Greece and Greeks? Greek history is part of Turkish history and Greeks are our brothers & sisters most of us share the same ancestry. I really hope that during my lifetime we start moving closer to each other rather than the opposite.

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TurkOmbre@reddit

Ancient and Byzantine Greece have nothing to do with modern Greece. Yes, Byzantine history (Rum) is part of Turkey, but not the history of modern Greece

It's like saying Turkish history is part of the history of Serbia/Croatia/Hungary, etc., when it was actually the Ottoman Empire. Also, Ottoman history is even more closely linked to Turkey than Byzantine history is to Greece.

The comparison between Byzantine and Modern Greece is simply irrelevant. Nothing in Greece is based on Byzantium, nothing

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1970ivan@reddit

So you think you were Romans and shit?

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Frank_cat@reddit

So you think you ~~were~~ wuz Romans ~~and~~ n ~~shit~~ Shieet?

IFIFY :)

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radjPpP@reddit

Yeaaaah I’m not even gonna waste time discussing with you I think

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MechaMulder@reddit

If it ever comes to war it will be one of the greatest tragedies of the century.

We have so much in common because of our shared history that it is truly sad to see this aggression.

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Savings_Cause5234@reddit

If we need to change all the words that have Greek origin, we might as well start speaking mandarin, because there is no european language without some greek influence

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DurustveIlkeli@reddit

İstanbul Anadolu vs bunlarda greek origin diyen arkadaşlar arada ince bir fark var. Bu saydıklarınız zaten bizim sancağımız altında. Fakat Adalar denizine henüz hakim değiliz. Adalar denizi yeniden bizim olduğunda istersen adına "yunan adaları denizi" veya "ege" diyebiliriz. Önemli olan hakimiyet. Yunanlar neden hala Constantinople diyor?

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enteralterego@reddit

That guy is a cultist. The absolute worst minister of education this country has ever seen.
Everything he has done will be dismantled once the erdogan govt is removed and all its main actors prosecuted.

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Embarrassed-Month-35@reddit

So, elections coming neighbor?

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Future-Actuator488@reddit

Her kuşu sıktık, leylek kaldı

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treadbolt5@reddit

Siktirsin gitsin. Ege Denizidir, ege denizi kalir.

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Next_League6403@reddit

I normally dont like stuff like that but everyday I keep seeing posts where my country is divided into different countries,the city i was born gets claimed by greeks, eastern regions go to some other country, sea borders are getting closer to the point where you cant sail from north to south without ''invading'' someone, the food i like gets claimed even though it has a turkish name. So i am not sure. Its a cultural attack we are retaliating i guess.

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Cookiesend@reddit

Maybe change the theatre too, also a greek word.

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kiranoir30880401@reddit

greedy fools

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BigHotNWord@reddit

It's AKP's bullshit but not really serious. They want to use that name because it was used officially in Ottoman and early Republic times. Even if its official no one would use it because the name has stayed for a long time. Also most places names in Turkey haven't changed in thousands of years so I don't get how this is an exception and needs to be changed.

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MiskoSkace@reddit

Well no shit that Aegean is of Greek origin

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chrstianelson@reddit

In Turkish it's Ege.

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capracucinciiezi@reddit

In Romanian Egee. We added another e.

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Kooky_Appeal_6554@reddit

and we say: Egeyz denizi

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capracucinciiezi@reddit

Marea Egee.

Funny thing, not exactly related. The Ionian sea is called Marea Ionică in Romanian. But Ionică is also a name here. A diminutive for the name Ion or Ioan. In my childhood I thought it is named after some guy named Ionică, not about a Greek tribe.

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Kooky_Appeal_6554@reddit

and we would say: İoniya denizi

Yes, in Romanian Ioan is a name, it's Johannes.

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capracucinciiezi@reddit

Yannis too, no?

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Kooky_Appeal_6554@reddit

without s. Only Yanni, female is Yannia

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capracucinciiezi@reddit

Wallachia, Muntenia Prahova county. Close to the southern Carpathian mountains. See Prahova Valley.

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Kooky_Appeal_6554@reddit

My father's ancestors came from Ada Kaleh, located once in romania.

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capracucinciiezi@reddit

I know about it. It's something many people here, including me, regret it doesn't exists anymore. It would have been such a touristic diamond! Though probably it would be spoiled by being just that. It was something very unusual in Romania, since we don't exactly have much genuine Ottoman/Turkish culture here except a little spots in Dobrogea. But there it's mostly mixed with the Tatar one. Ada Kaleh was genuinely Ottoman Balkan. Very unfortunate fate.

For the readers, that island on the Danube is now underwater because of the Iron Gates hydroelectric power stations.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Gate_I_Hydroelectric_Power_Station

Her's an article about Ada Kaleh, in Romanian, about the island in one of the most prestigious Romanian historical mags.

https://historia.ro/sectiune/general/ada-kaleh-istoria-unui-paradis-ingropat-de-ape-si-568235.html

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Kooky_Appeal_6554@reddit

What was wonderful or unique about it was that there was no hatred between religions and ethnicities there. Romanians, Serbs, Hungarians, Swabians—all Christians—always got along with the Turkish Muslims there. Christians from all around even came to the island to the tomb of the Sufi dervish Miskin Baba, the island's patron saint, who was supposedly an Uzbek prince. Prayers were offered there, and candles were lit. The festival was held there on May 4th, and everyone was welcome.

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capracucinciiezi@reddit

I do know. I've read about it quite a lot in my youth years. It was how we all should have been and how we should be now too.

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Kooky_Appeal_6554@reddit

Unfortunately, people destroy a lot.

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capracucinciiezi@reddit

Unfortunately we do. We are like children killing an entire nest of insects because we feel like gods.

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Kooky_Appeal_6554@reddit

I’m not really fond of your response; I can't tell if you meant it ironically or as an insult. ?

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capracucinciiezi@reddit

It's ironic. Probably our irony is too dsrk for you. :)

We like to make fun about ourselves and about death here. Especially about our own death. :)

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Kooky_Appeal_6554@reddit

But you're right—judging by this article, they really were once heavily inbred.

https://donauinseln.blogspot.com/2013/10/between-woods-and-water-rose-petal-jam.html

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capracucinciiezi@reddit

It's not offensive by the way!

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capracucinciiezi@reddit

From that Historia.ro article

The turbulent waters of the Danube are slowly but surely covering every inch of the island. Before long... it will disappear, as if it had never existed. It’s over... Ada-Kaleh has become... history. From the Romanian shore, the island’s last inhabitants watch in stunned silence as their “life” fades away. The Danube and the hands of their fellow countrymen, who dynamited the island, have driven them into exile, and their civilization and ancestors will remain forever in the depths. The price paid for the construction of the Iron Gates hydroelectric dam was quite high. And yet, the island of ADA-KALEH existed, and its history spans the ages.

I'm sorry! 🥹

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Kooky_Appeal_6554@reddit

The problem is, the people from there could hardly settle in anywhere else. Also because the island community was torn apart. A small group settled in Dobruja, others in the Orsova region, the majority went to Turkey, and from there many went to Germany and Austria as migrant workers. Thus, a centuries-old, close-knit community was destroyed. I myself, although I never lived there, feel this way; I have no home. I feel completely alienated.

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capracucinciiezi@reddit

Yeah it was extremely hard and weird because anything else was foreign for them. I understand that somehow. Not totally but I do. That's why some of us, who are aware of their pain, apologize it to your father though you.

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Kooky_Appeal_6554@reddit

The language alone—Turkish dialects can sound very different. The people of Ada Kaleh spoke a dialect very similar to Gagauz, with Romanian loanwords.

It wasn't the fault of the Romanian people. It was the communist government of Romania and Yugoslavia that planned the dam. The Romanian people were just as sad; they were part of it too, because people came to the island, loved the coffee, the Turkish Delight, and so on. They came to the island by boat, later by small ships—domestic tourism. During the 1950s and 1960s, a genuine harmony existed, with many Romanian, German, and Hungarian women from the mainland town of Orșova marrying Turkish men from Ada Kaleh. “There was a song about the love of a young Turkish girl and a Romanian sailor, Aisha and Drago- mir, it was sung in the 1950s.

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capracucinciiezi@reddit

I know it wasn't my personal fault or my family, we live quite far from there, but it's still somehow a feel of guilt around the country for people who still know about that. It's like destroying a civilisation somehow. And we don't like that at all. Especially since electricity is expensive no matter what!

Never hear about that song. Can you give me some points about it? Some lyrics?

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Kooky_Appeal_6554@reddit

No, my Romanian friend, you don't need to think or feel that way. Not a single Turk from Ada Kaleh has ever blamed the Romanian people. You were our friends, neighbors, and in some cases, even relatives through marriage. We love you. Believe me.

I don't know the lyrics; I'm looking for the song myself. It was a story that also showed that a Romanian man, but I think the name Dragomir was probably Serbian? I don't know. But it's about Muslim women marrying Christian men. As I said, there was no hatred there between the religions and ethnicities. That was unique. An unparalleled example, and that for centuries. I think. So many wars, but this island and the surrounding area on the mainland remained untouched by all of it. Amazing.

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capracucinciiezi@reddit

I'm honestly glad you guys feel that way! 🥹

Dragomir, Dragomirescu even, are very much Romanian too. Slavic names or surnames are very usual for us. We even have surnames that literally means other people, like Turcu. It means the Turk. Or Rusu, Russian.

The area around it is indeed incredible. Danube in that area is just something else. Try it!

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capracucinciiezi@reddit

Usually Romanian sailors music was similar to this

https://youtu.be/6RmjJfxu26Q?is=A9Q39_SHsI65W0Rr

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capracucinciiezi@reddit

You're not alienated! You'll be always welcome here!

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Kooky_Appeal_6554@reddit

Yes, my dream would be to live on a Danube island, but I don't think there are any other inhabited ones in Romania, are there? I've seen that in Hungary there are quite a few inhabited Danube islands.

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Kitsooos@reddit

Ιωνάς / Ionas is the Greek version of your name.
But etymologically it is actually originally Jewish.

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capracucinciiezi@reddit

Ionică is a diminutive for a male name here. Ioana is the female version of Ion/Ioan here too.

No no no, you got it wrong. I thought the Ionian Sea was named from some random dude named Ionică.

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capracucinciiezi@reddit

The best Turkish word (words?) for me is Karadeniz. Or probably Kara Deniz. It just sounds so cool for me.

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oerwtas@reddit

Interestingly enough the names of seas around Turkey match with the traditional Turkic directional colors.

Black for North (Karadeniz)
Red for South (Kızıldeniz - Red Sea)
White for West (Akdeniz - Mediterranean)

The name of the Caspian sea comes from Khazars in Turkish (Hazar Denizi) otherwise it would have been blue I guess.

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capracucinciiezi@reddit

Yeah, now that I think about it it has sense. Black sea is in the north. The question is it's Turkic or Chinese people who invented this?

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tokalper@reddit

I looked it up its Turkic ancient turks associates colors with directions

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capracucinciiezi@reddit

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Symbols

They have it too.

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tokalper@reddit

They stole it from us just like greeks :p

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capracucinciiezi@reddit

:D

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tokalper@reddit

I remember somewhere Chinese association with colors for directions i must find it now

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Sea_Gap_6569@reddit

not Balkan?

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capracucinciiezi@reddit

Balkan as a word is not very interesting to me. But karadeniz is. I can't explain it.

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tokalper@reddit

Then you would love akdeniz ak-deniz is the white sea

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capracucinciiezi@reddit

Not quite. Ak sounds like ac which means needle in my language. And I definitely hate needles. Especially when a doctor has it.

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Kooky_Appeal_6554@reddit

but this is black sea,

Kara deniz means Black sea

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capracucinciiezi@reddit

Haha I know.

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FantasticQuartet@reddit (OP)

Sea of gays?

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Iapetus404@reddit

Balkan country with most e, wins a little island in Aegean sea.

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JeanDusapin@reddit

Same in French, it's Égée

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capracucinciiezi@reddit

Probably when talking it's quite different. :D

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Final-Nebula-7049@reddit

fancy

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capracucinciiezi@reddit

We like our double or even triple letters. For example copiii means the children.

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Final-Nebula-7049@reddit

Two I's make a third. Very pragmatic

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capracucinciiezi@reddit

You know what, you're right! I never thought about it this way! :))

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Designer-Touch9263@reddit

Egej in Serbia

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alexandianos@reddit

Aegean is just the English word. In Greek it’s Egeo

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1970ivan@reddit

In Serbian Egejsko more

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capracucinciiezi@reddit

What does it means? Because in my language or in English it definitely doesn't mean anything. But surely it means something in Greek.

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Lunatik_C@reddit

Most probably, comes from Αιγέας, mythical king of Athens that was at war with King Minos of Crete, and he drowned in the sea by his grief about the, supposed, demise of his son Theseus (the known hero).

Here's more. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aegeus

The name itself comes from Αίγα, that means goat. It was really used in the archaic ancient names. For instance, the first capital of Macedonia was named Αιγαί, goats.

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capracucinciiezi@reddit

I learned something new today. Thanks!

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Sea_Gap_6569@reddit

name of a Greek king

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capracucinciiezi@reddit

Oh! I didn't know that.

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Corvain@reddit

I'm turkish and I don't even understand what's going on with the goverment sometimes

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Dwanvea@reddit

Do you understand our government at other times?

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Lorumba@reddit

Yeah they sometimes pass these to appeal their voterbase and change the subject of literally couping the opposition party.

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PavelKringa55@reddit

No, you can't have a chimney through it to Turkey.
But you can come over for a swim.

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ayayayamaria@reddit

If you don't like names of Greek origin then you need some massive renaming project for you country, fam.

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Material-Copy6703@reddit

This is not really about etymological origin or historical accuracy. It reflects more of a Mare Nostrum-style imperial mindset: the tendency to linguistically domesticate a shared geographic space and treat it as part of one's own civilizational interior. Calling it 'Sea of Islands' feels less like restoring an old name and more like referring to your living room simply as 'the living room' rather than by some separate proper name, because, within your own mental framework, it is already assumed to be part of your house.

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Material-Copy6703@reddit

One could argue why the same impulse does not apply to 'Anatolia.' After all, 'Anadolu' also has Greek etymological roots. But unlike the Aegean, Anatolia is not perceived as a contested space requiring any kind of assertion. Over centuries, 'Anadolu' became thoroughly naturalized within Turkish, to the point that most speakers no longer experience it as foreign at all. In fact, its phonetic resemblance to native Turkish words like 'ana' and 'dolu' makes it feel Turkish to a Turkish speaker, even if that resemblance is accidental. I guess that's why they don't care.

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SupremeLeader55@reddit

Οπως και να ονομάσουν το αιγαίο, τα νησιά είναι και πάλι δικά μας

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Puzzled_Muzzled@reddit

'Sea of other people's islands' sounds better.

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Old_Resident8050@reddit

Sea of the Greek islands sounds great too.

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ConinTheNinoC@reddit

That's kinda pathetic but expected. This has been policy in Turkey for some time. The renaming and rewriting of history. How very North Macedonian of this turkish minister. We are all truly all one peoples!

gif

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RestaurantBoring417@reddit

Yeah brother almost like Greeks used to live there thousands of years before you back when you were raiding caravans in Mongolia

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Truspace@reddit

Turkish education minister should also rename two dozen turkish cities, three continents, a couple of oceans and nearly every science book if he wants 'greek influence' eradicated. Anadolu is also greek lol

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Nesciens10@reddit

Renaming is stupid of course but Greek-derived place names in Turkey are actually very few when considering the total. For instance, out of 81 provinces, only 5 have Greek-derived names: Istanbul, Bolu, Bartın, Trabzon, and Rize. Most of the other names people associate with the Aegean region derive either from older Anatolian languages or probably even pre-Anatolian ones

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Mysterious-Put1459@reddit

What about Edirne?

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Nesciens10@reddit

Although πόλις is Greek, Adrian’s ultimate origin is most from the Venetic or Illyrian word adur, meaning a body of water.

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Mysterious-Put1459@reddit

The whole quote is:
Geographic Origins: Hadria was an ancient Etruscan/Greek colony. Some historians believe the town's name itself stems from ancient Illyrian and Venetic words (adur) meaning "sea" or "water".

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Several_Score_4278@reddit

How Greek, you are not the indigenous people of here

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Self-Bitter@reddit

Also don't tell him about stars. star systems, galaxies and the name of our Galaxy as well, he will have to spend his whole life renaming stuff

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1970ivan@reddit

Haha imagine what will he change them for: kebab one, kebab two...

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macellan@reddit

I completely agree. Yet, I am OK with the changes as long as they don't try to enforce it in different languages like they do with "Türkiye".

As a side note, "Anadolu" is Greek origin, but it is also pretty much Turkified. It means something like "Full of mothers". LoL.

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Kitsooos@reddit

It means no such thing. It comes from the Greek "Anatoli(a)" , which simply means "East".
It was named such, because it is East of the Aegean.

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macellan@reddit

Can you read?

Where did I say it is originated in Turkish? I said the Greek origin word is Turkified and what it means in Turkish.

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Healthy_Bar922@reddit

If they try to make me write anything but Turkey/Tyrkia, I'm gonna start calling it lesser Hellas in protest.

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Inductee@reddit

Time to rename Istanbul, since it come directly from Greek "Eis tin boli"

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Several_Score_4278@reddit

Dersaadet

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LlamaFromTheAlps@reddit

Trump opened a Pandora's box. Whats next? Renaming Black Sea to White Sea?

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Besrax@reddit

It's taken. We call the Aegean sea "White sea". Does anyone else do that?

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Several_Score_4278@reddit

in turkish its white sea, In the past, the Aegean and the Mediterranean were considered the same. The name comes from the direction color from the buddhist, shaman tradition

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the_lonely_creeper@reddit

Not in Greece at least, I think.

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Besrax@reddit

Hmm, might a Slavic or exclusively Bulgarian thing then.

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Frank_cat@reddit

Dont give ideas to Putin!
Like renaming the Black Sea ---> Vladimarea

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Geo_fan_Albaniqn@reddit

By this logic Telefon should be renamed

(Phone is a greek word)

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Tamtakos-1@reddit

Reminds me of Trump's "Gulf of America" instead of Gulf of Mexico. Paranoid dictators have common similarities

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No-Carpenter4346@reddit

Imagine if they put this much attention on fixing civic infrastructure and inflation

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pariria@reddit

Turkey being Turkey yet again 🫪

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Mohammed_Chang@reddit

I‘m very sick of people renaming stuff for populist reasons.

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CataphractBunny@reddit

His claim is that the name Aegean is Greek in origin. Thoughts?

I've known this since I was 7, and I should be Turkey's education minister.

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V0R88@reddit

You are probably overqualified

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yannis_@reddit

Maybe sea of water?

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evas1v@reddit

Let's hope Turkey bankrupts as fast as possible so that they can chill their neo-ottoman enthusiasm.

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Ill_Professional6747@reddit

-Anne, can we have Trump? -No annem, we have Trump at home.

Trump at home:

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Utfarberget@reddit

As if we didn't have enough to quarrel about in the world. Do something useful man.

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AndreBerisha@reddit

Funny. It was called the Aegean for hundreds of years before a single Turk stepped foot in Anatolia.

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Taki32@reddit

Ministry of education? You mean the propaganda bureau

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PointOfViewGunner@reddit

In the Treaty of Lausanne from 1923, which determined much of the Turkish borders, the sea is named as Sea of Islands in Turkish. What he said in his statement was not that the name Aegean is Greek but that the name in Turkish was changed from Sea of Islands to Aegean because of influence from Greece.

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Miserable_Ad_2074@reddit

So now that the ''Turkaegean'' tourist campaign stopped, suddenly he doesn't like the name..

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frappekaikoulouri@reddit

Cancer politics

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PavelKringa55@reddit

Let's make a compromise. I propose: "Greek Aegean".

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Self-Bitter@reddit

I propose the "Sea of the Greek Islands"

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PavelKringa55@reddit

That's too mild.
I counter-propose: Αιγαίο Πέλαγος των Ελληνικών Νήσων

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GoddessOfAffection@reddit

Then we can speak Greek whenever the Aegean Sea is mentioned.

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InspectorRumpole@reddit

This can only be a distraction right? Or does he really not have anything better to do?

Ottoman empire isn't coming back bro, whether you rename the sea or not.

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Wulkas_Code@reddit

gif

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pariria@reddit

Bahahahah 🤣🤣🤣

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Similar-Mood-4740@reddit

just like Trump, renaming golf of mexico...

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lukatsito@reddit

Ah yes, Işıkbahçe is my favourite football team in Sultanşehri

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FriendZy64@reddit

There's a car named after the damn region, bro... yet these guys are calling it the sea of islands next is what istanbul to f1 city?

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Substantial-One1934@reddit

Let's turn the old name of Istanbul then to Constantinopol or Byzantium.

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Inductee@reddit

Or Tsarigrad...

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Kitsooos@reddit

Why is nobody talking about the name that the Romans actually planned on it to have, after they upgraded it to a capital ? Nova Roma. New Rome.

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FriendZy64@reddit

lmao true.

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Marizemid10371@reddit

Oh,did he get the Trump intellectual sickness? See gulf of Mexico/America??? Such a stupid idiotic shame

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jellobend@reddit

Ege is a beautiful word in Turkish. Its Greek origins only give it more richness.

But I don't mind the Sea of Islands either.

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arcane_labor92@reddit

What's the issue with Greek origin names? Probably mire than half first names in Bulgaria are of Greek origin. Imagine if we had to change those.

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Sea_Gap_6569@reddit

What’s his solution for the name of the biggest and most famous city?

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Natural_Detective_93@reddit

The name is already taken

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YumFreeCookies@reddit

Gulf of America vibes.

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Inductee@reddit

It's Gülf öf Türkiye now!

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zara_anwar@reddit

Alesandru the Greatüllüllü

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Kitsooos@reddit

Alexandri Greti. ^(ALALALAL)

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Inductee@reddit

Aleksandar Veliki, from Skopje 😅

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krsCarrots@reddit

So how about Constantinople

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minus_uu_ee@reddit

Turkey is going through new stage of the coup, don't distract yourselves.

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supersonic-bionic@reddit

What an idiot

Another distraction

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Citaku357@reddit

Does he know where the name Anatolia and Istanbul come from?

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Vaseline13@reddit

Sorry Turk friends, no more Anadolu, Istanbul, Izmir, Trabzon, Marmara, Ayasofia and many many more for you.

Greek derived names shall not be tolerated anymore.

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loleenceee@reddit

Rename it to sea of Mexico

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levenspiel_s@reddit

Crooks need to distract people and morons will of course buy it.

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Lopsided-Disk3195@reddit

Ege just sounds better I'll keep calling it Ege. Not because I like the word but because I wont support any decision ths person makes

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capracucinciiezi@reddit

That's the spirit! 😏👍

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Rundas77@reddit

Trump this you?

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Denova_Vendetta@reddit

Erdogan is like trump.

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capracucinciiezi@reddit

A lot of idiots around the world are emboldened by that massive shit stain in the ~~ White House~~ Mar a Lago.

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SavingsEquivalent844@reddit

Poor education in the east, southern-east provinces...maybe you should solve some problems there? Minister: no, i want some ragebait and make uneducated people to be proud of what i've done

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Bilmemkineyapsam@reddit

This is so stupid. First of all, “Ege Denizi” sounds much better than “Adalar Denizi” and Adalar Denizi is such an old name that it sounds weird nowadays.

I don’t understand this language purification stuff, political or not.

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bennyblanco1978@reddit

🤣 what a 🤡

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thro14away@reddit

Istanbul, Ankara, Kayseri, Izmir, Iznik, Niksar, Izmit, Mersin, Antalya, Samsun, Trabzon, Sivas, Antakya, Iskenderun, Edirne, Kütahya, Tokat, Amasya, Sinop and more to follow?

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RasyonelRumi@reddit

My name is Ege though. This dickhead’s name is Arabic, derived from Hebrew. Pointless af.

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Acryptobat@reddit

It is a political stance and message , you bunch trying to explain it with logic. it means Turkiye has unfinished business. Whether we like it or not there will be some sort of conflict in that region

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cosmic-potatoe@reddit

Yusuf Tekin is an idiot. They re elected with rigged election and now %70 of the population are against them. And they control everything not not give another person power. Plase don’t generalize Turkish people with a single idiotic person.

Also, please don’t take this kind of person’s claims too seriously. They do not represent the people as a whole. If there are 20 people in a room and 15 of them clearly say “A,” but one person insists it is “B,” would you consider “B” to be the correct answer? Probably not. In today’s world, it has become very easy to manipulate media and create loud narratives online, but what matters most is what the majority of ordinary people actually think and say. And right now, in more autocratic countries like Turkey or Russia, the rulers do not necessarily represent the majority of the population. So until there is a real systemic change, please do not treat those kinds of claims as if they reflect the will of the people. They are a minority, and they do not truly represent the country or its people.

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lordraiden112@reddit

Trump sea of big macs

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notnotnotnotgolifa@reddit

Nation saved

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Ninevolts@reddit

Yusuf Tekin is one of the favorites to replace Erdogan, should he leaves or dies. He's just making a name for himself, competing with other favorites, such as Hakan Fidan, Selcuk Bayraktar and Fahrettin Altun.

Ege is one of the most common boys name in Turkey. This is like the stupidest idea he came up with. Won't work.

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chrstianelson@reddit

This islamist mf is the worst thing that ever happened to the Turkish education.

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Technical_Plenty6231@reddit

bot account