Turks find wolf in sheep’s clothing

Turks find wolf in sheep’s clothing

Irish Times
Mar 05, 2005

TURKEY: Turkey’s environment ministry has renamed three native animals
to rid them of names which ministry officials believed were given by
“foreigners” with a territorial axe to grind.

A sheep species previously known as Ovis Armeniana has been renamed
Ovis Orientalis Anatolicus . A red fox was renamed as Vulpes Vulpes
rather than Vulpes Vulpes Kurdistanica . A deer named Capreolus
Capreolus Armenius was renamed as Capreolus Caprelus Capreolus
. “Unfortunately there are many other species in Turkey which were
named this way with ill-intentions. This ill-intent is so obvious that
even species only found in our country were given names against
Turkey’s unity,” the statement said.

Turkey has tense ties with its eastern neighbour Armenia, which it
does not officially recognise. It has also waged a bloody war against
Kurdish separatists, who have sought an independent state in Turkey’s
southeast. The ministry said scientific studies led to the choice of
new names.