Turkey: It ain't just a sandwich.

Did you know that Turkiye literally translates to 'land of the Turks'? I asked Ben about it because it didn't make sense to me that in Turkish they were saying Turkey. This is what Ben would call one of my 'ah-ha' moments, shaking his head. Something we are constantly taking note of in our cross-cultural relationship is that what might be obvious to one of us is completely foreign to the other (usually the other being ME). Ben gets a big kick out of this. Usually while we're driving around I spend the entire time asking random questions about the culture, or a building that we pass, or how to pronounce different store names. I must sound like a lunatic, but lucky for me he is pretty patient (most of the time, that is).

So anyway, Turkiye was named 'land of the Turks' by Ataturk, the beloved founding father of what we know today as Turkey. Apparently it was translated in English to 'Turkey' because 'Land of the Turks' was too lengthy.

I hope this solves the mystery for those of you who were wondering why they would name their country after poultry... hee hee hee ; )