Apparently the name change has only been made across 3 of the 6 official UN languages - EN, FR and ES. The name remains exactly as it was for Arabic, Russian and Chinese ("The UN agreed and implemented the name change immediately in three of its six official languages: English, French , and Spanish (no name change was made in Arabic, Chinese, or Russian)" Wiki). . . So - English, French and Spanish have to adopt a character which doesn't exist in their alphabet and are, presumably, supposed, subtly, to change their pronunciation when saying the name of the Country!! I have played from the Web the recorded name of the country and the bird in each of the 3 unchanged languages - the pronunciations in Mandarin for instance whether of the country or that bird sound exactly the same - and it appears that eating of Turkey has been growing in China so "confusion" is possible!!! Neither Arabic nor Russian on the other hand use the same word for both bird and country - but then neither do French or Spanish. It is all rather muddled - The change has been limited to those countries using the Roman alphabet rather than those with the possibility of confusion between the country and the bird!
When other countries have changed official names e.g Eswatini and Sri Lanka, the change has been made across all 6 languages.
I don't think any other country insists that its name be replicated as per its native form in terms of alphabet, spelling or pronunciation by English speakers! Of course every country has the right to have its own "official" name in its own language as has Turkey for a long time - "Turkey adopted its official name, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, known in English as the Republic of Turkey, upon the declaration of the republic on 29 October 1923" But expecting everyone else to use it (or part of it) seems a step too far! Perhaps Putin will start insisting that his country be called "Rossiya" in "English"?!

Solivagant
Indeed, a pretty clear political move.
For the record, in Spanish: Turkey (the country): Turquía. turkey (the bird): pavo. So, don't understand the need for a change.

Of course, if finding out about this change, the Spanish language academies (like the Spanish Royal Academy) won't be very happy about this change, after wanting us, Spanish-speakers, to write"Catar" instead of "Qatar", "Breslavia" instead of "Wrocław", "Kinsasa" instead of "Kinshasa" or "Tiflis" instead of Tbilisi.

Selimiye Mosque, Edirne

Does anyone know of the situation regarding "visits" since restoration work has started?

a. Is a visit to the interior possible?
This article from Aug 2022 states "The mosque will be open to worshippers and visitors during the restoration work, which will last approximately 40 months". But this report from this month states merely "Selimiye Mosque is open for worship during the restoration." with no mention of visits ...and also indicates closure of 3 of the 4 doors.

b. If it IS possible has anyone heard how restrictive the visit is? A friend is thinking of making a 1 day round trip visit from Istanbul. The tour agencies are "silent" on what difference the restoration work might make to a visit and I can find no recent reviews on e.g Trip Advisor!! A worst case scenario is that all they can see is the exterior (possibly significantly encased in scaffolding!) and perhaps the Kulliye!!!

I don't know directly, but I can just try to guess from my recent experience at Istanbul, where the Blue Mosque is under restoration. There, too, access is possible, both for worshippers and casual visitors, and access is reduced. I think that they take care to leave this possibility... but I found the fascination and magnificence of the mosque to be totally annihilated by the ongoing works. You see something for sure, but it is not comparable to how I experienced it in full many years ago.

So, if there is some similarity between these two situations, I would suggest not to do the trip without being prepared for a very big disappointment. But it may just be my baseless speculation.

Renovation of Selimiye is estimated to last for at least 3 more years. It is partially open to touristic visits and worship but most of the interior and two minares are covered for renovation. It is always good to visit Edirne since the best ciger and kofte in the universe can only be found there. And there are two more huge mosques and a psychiatric sanctuary that worth a visit.

We're missing a Turkish nomination for 2023. I've looked at Mardin, something is cooking there but reports are confusing.

2024 now seems to be Iznik.
Izmir I have moved forward to 2025.

Turkey is busy with demolishing Cappadocia right now. I don't know whether the world media is aware of, but the new road damaged many chimneys and old churches in the region.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/dunyamirasigezginleri/permalink/2167960976745869/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/dunyamirasigezginleri/permalink/2156928061182494/

Change of Izmir to Iznik is official, probably for political reasons. Izmir municipality is under the control of opposition party in contrast to Iznik that is governed by Erdogan's AKP.

2023 will probably be Akdamar, but not official yet.

So, has someone been there in the meantime? How is a visit of the big mosque? I admit I am a little hesitant to go there knowing of the restaurations, even if for sure Edirne is a nice city to visit.

(PS: Has this thread not yet been renamed? :-P)

I won't do that. There's a difference between the official listings and this part of the website where we chat (and still use Turkey in our messages so it seems).

I don't think I'll ever get used to the "new" name anyway. I don't have an issue with others like North Macedonia (even though I'll probably still say Macedonia and anyone but Greek still know what I mean) and Eswatini but a new spelling just seems rather stupid :p There are enough people still saying Holland instead of Netherlands so some things will just not change :p

OK, my bad, I did not want to start this issue (again), it was just an ironic comment! :-D

I was just wondering about how much you get now from the mosque in Adrianopoli - oops, Edirne! But actually, I was also seriously considering Hattusa (in fact quite at the opposite side of Byzantium - err, İstanbul!), one of the longest-standing "items" on my wishlist. It would be in the first half of December and most probably without a car. One of the reviews I read referred to a visit in November, but: how much cold do I have to expect (snow)? And are those distances walkable, too? Or (probably asking the expert Nan) is something like a "tour by cab" even possible there?

I am a little bit disorganised this time because this Turkish tour of mine is taking place more as a side effect than anything else - but a very looked for side effect!!! - and my information recovering will be very wanting in these coming weeks...

The temperature will be between -5 and +5 in Hattusa in December. Tour by cab is always possible in Turkey but there is no phone application for that. You need to bargain, better to arrange it with your hotel. It will be no expensive than 100 usd for a single day.

OK, thanks for the reply. Alas, I am probably renouncing to Hattusa, since it is too eccentric with the time given and the fact that I have to return to Istanbul, where I want to stay some days anyway. So probably I am reprogramming for Troy and maybe Edirne, in a sort of circle. By the way, are the battle zones on the Dardanelles and the bridge on the way to Edirne difficult without a vehicle and a rather encumbrant baggage (sorry, Els)?

I received the very sad news of the bombing in Istanbul less than one hour after my post here. I don't know exactly how to gauge the current situation in terms of safety... probably nothing changes from a tourist's point of view? :-/ Maybe I will try to avoid crowds.

PS: I am reading the beginning of this topic, too, and recovered the link by Solivgant about Gallipoli tours, which is still active! Thanks, I'll have a look into that!

You cannot visit war zones without a vehicle since there is no public transport between them. You need either a rent-a-car, a taxi or tour. If you want just a quick tick, you can visit Kilitbahir castle and museum (easily reachable by public transport) and take the ferry to Canakkale afterwards for Troy. You can easily find a taxi to tour you around the peninsula for around 50-100 usd.

The main sights are:
1) Çanakkale Şehitlik Hastane Müzesi
2) Canakkale Martyrs Monument
3) Epic Promotion Center
4) Anzac Cove
5) Conkbayırı
6) Kilitbahir Castle

visiting all is at least a full day. Here is the ferry time schedule.
https://www.gdu.com.tr/sefer-tarifeleri

The best place to find a private taxi is Eceabat. I believe there are many organized tours that are departing from Istanbul or Edirne. You need to google them. I have no experience with tours. The new bridge is just after Gallipoli city. It is not convenient if you like to visit war zones since it is far away from them.

Thanks for the link. From what I have understood, Çanakkale is the nicer place to stay with respect to Eceabat, and it is probably more practical for going to Troy, too, so I'm inclined to stay there. Now I am enquiring for tours of the war zones, but my priority is Troy anyway. After Hattuşa for logistic reasons, I am also renouncing to Edirne, because I think I simply do not have enough time to do so much with calm, and Çanakkale is already far enough from İstanbul (I'm not going to do a Nan-like exhausting daytrip as described in his review :-D). So my very trivial and laid-back plan could look like this:

4/12: early arrival in İstanbul
5/12: İstanbul
6/12: transition day, probably with at least half a day in İstanbul
7/12: Çanakkale, war zones/Troy
8/12: Çanakkale, war zones/Troy and possible transfer back to İstanbul
9/12: afternoon departure İstanbul

I have already visited İstanbul well many years ago, and took a walk downtown this summer, but I still have things on my to-see list and I will want to be a little more relaxed in terms of activities. Also, it is a pleasure for me to return there.

* * *

As regards İstanbul, I was doing some research about its TWHSs, and would like to ask if anybody has some updated information about the Yıldız palace, for which reviews of 4 years ago reported restorations. I'm finding unclear pointers about its permanent closure: Wikipedia says so, but it cites an old article; a page on the (official?) museums' website does not seem to exist any longer, nothing at all; from the directorate of national palaces it seems that the tile and porcelain factory is open, but the chalet isn't; other sites do give opening hours for the museum. So I was wondering what exactly is going on, if anything at all is visitable (the mosque? the park?), and why it seems so difficult to find precise information.

PS: The bridge between Gelibolu and Edirne I was referring too is not so new, it's the Uzunköprü :-) But as said, it is no longer on my radar.