March 28, 1930
The City of Constantinople changed to Istanbul. Constantinople (“City of Constantine”) was the principal official name of the city from the Fifth Century throughout the Byzantine period, and the Ottoman Empire. İstanbul was the common name for the city in normal speech in Turkish even before the conquest of 1453. In 1928, the Turkish alphabet was changed from Arabic script to Latin script. After that, Turkey started to urge other countries to use Turkish names for Turkish cities. Letters or packages sent to “Constantinople” instead of “Istanbul” were no longer delivered by Turkey’s postal service, which contributed to the eventual worldwide adoption of the new name.
