As far as I know Turkey is the name of the new country established in 1923.
However from some articles I've read I understand that Turkey was
called Turkey before that too. So I would like to learn who, when and
where first named Turkey as Turkey.

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Clarification of Question by halukakin-ga on 01 Feb 2004 13:00 PST

FYI, this question has nothing to do with the animal turkey...

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Request for Question Clarification by kriswrite-ga on 01 Feb 2004 14:34 PST

Hi Halukakin~

The name Turkey has ancient origins, and it's unlikely anyone will be
able to tell you with certainty when the name was first applied, and
less still, who applied it. I can provide you with the meaning of the
name, however, if you desire it.

Kriswrite

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Clarification of Question by halukakin-ga on 01 Feb 2004 15:19 PST

Thank you for your message. I'm not interested in the meaning of
Turkey. I would like to learn who came up with this word first.

The thing is I would think that instead of Turkey it would be more
normal to name this country as Turkistan or something like this (As
far as I know Indians call Turkey as Turkistan for example). However
it is called as Turkey. So I would like to who used this word for the
first time.

Well, perhaps this will be of interest.

The name Turkey seems to have been derived from the Arab word
Al-Turkiyah, the ?land of the Turks.? The name Turkestan is a Persian
form of the same name, meaning land of the Usbeks, the Kirghis, the
Turcomans, and other Turkic races. The name Turk is probably a Tartar
word meaning ? brave.? (?Origin of Place Name Turkey,? Place Names
http://www.sacklunch.net/placenames/T/Turkey.html )

Good luck in your search!
Kriswrite

I have found variants of the word Turkey used in Western Europe as
early as the mid-seventeenth century.  Before that, the phrase Turkic
Empire seems to have been used alongside Ottoman Empire.

But the geographical designation of what we know today as Turkey would
have been Asia Minor (apart from the small portion on the European
side, e.g. in Istanbul) or Natolia (Anatolia) until perhaps the late
eighteenth century.  Certainly the narrowing scope of the Ottoman
Empire, together with the position of their capitol at Istanbul, led
to a similar narrowing of Turkey as a geographic designation.

The designation of Armenia, for example, would have been a more
specific one, for a region at the eastern extent of modern Turkey, but
until World War I the Ottoman Empire still included what we think of
today as Iran, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Israel, and Saudia Arabia (and
other emirates).  It is only by contrast with the enormous extent of
Ottoman Empire at its height that this begins to appear "narrow".

It was through political and diplomatic maneuvering that Mustafa Kemal
(Atatürk, "Father of the Turks") was able create the national identity
that the Turkish people have today.  This identity is compounded both
of the nomadic history of the Turkic people who invaded Anatolia
during the expansion of the Seljuk Empire, and of the exclusions of
the geographic regions above and of the political repressions of
competing ethnic identities within Anatolia (Armenian and Kurdish
being important ones).

Thus I believe that even in the nineteenth century, the word Turkey
would have been a more general designation than what it means today.

If you would like more than a pointer to a single link or reference on
this topic, you should perhaps think about raising the price offered. 
Google Answers provides a guideline for pricing here:

[Google Answers - How to Price Your Question]
http://answers.google.com/answers/pricing.html

regards, mathtalk-ga

An alternative explanation is why the bird is called after the country
Turkey is hidden in linguistics and geographical ignorance of medieval
times. The bird turkey was originated from the country India. Ottoman
Empire, (and if we oversimplify meaning Turkey), controlled the trade
route from India. So the turkey birds were imported to Europe thru
Turkey. French, especially in 16th century, had excellent relations
with Ottoman Empire and they knew the bird was imported from India. In
French, "from India" is "d'Inde", and the bird turkey is "dindon".
People from the Queen's Empire however thought the bird arrived from
Turkey and name the bird after the country Turkey.