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.