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Capital of Ukraine is Kyiv

Capital of Ukraine is Kyiv

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Started by Anonymous 17 years, 11 months ago
To: Editor of The Economist 25 St James\'s Street London SW1A 1HG Fax: +44 20 7839 4092 Sir, I would like to bring your attention to the fact that your paper constantly refers to the capital of Ukraine as Kiev. For several reasons provided below, name Kyiv should be used instead. Whenever you arrive to Kyiv Boryspil International, you will never miss four big shining letters KYIV on the top of the airport building. When you drive further towards the city, you will be greeted by the board \"Kyiv welcomes you\" on the side of the speedway. You may think these changes occurred after the Orange Revolution. Let me reassure you that this was already the case in earlier nineties and long time before it. Ukrainian Parliament, Verkhovna Rada, through many of its Commissions allows only one spelling, Kyiv [ http://www.rada.gov.ua/translit ]. Probably, the most important argument is the Constitution of Ukraine, which clearly states that \"The capital of Ukraine is the City of Kyiv\" [Article 20, http://www.rada.gov.ua/const/conengl.htm ]. Even your style guide insists on the modern spelling \"... But follow local practice when a country expressly changes its name, or the names of rivers, towns, etc, within it. Thus Almaty not Alma Ata; ...\". You prefer to write Moldova, Belarus, Chisinau instead of Soviet era names Moldavia, Byelorussia, Kishenev, saying nothing about Myanmar versus Burma. I wonder why you drop Kyiv out of this list You wrongly make an impression on many of your readers who actually have visited Ukraine that your journalists are not particularly aware of what is going on in the country. I would like to use this opportunity and welcome you to visit our capital and see it for yourself. The face of Kyiv changes every day, except for its name. Yours faithfully

Updates

January 8, 2009

The petition has now reached 1,000 signatures. This milestone confirms that a precise and respectful approach to naming conventions is widely valued. I intend to present this collective request to the editorial staff shortly.

Reached 1,000 supporters

January 7, 2009

September 3, 2008

The consistent support for this request indicates a clear expectation for journalistic accuracy. This momentum confirms that the call for correct nomenclature is both reasonable and widely expected.

Reached 100 supporters

August 29, 2008

7 Comments

O
Olena Day
17 years ago Featured

Finally someone said it. Its Kyiv not Kiev. Please get it right.

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Mark Osborne
17 years ago Featured

Its pretty simple really. Respect the local name.

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Tatiana Mills
17 years ago Featured

I been telling people this for years. glad someone is actually doing something about it.

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Serhiy Castillo
17 years ago Featured

KYIV!!! NOT KIEV. stop using the russian spelling.

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Dmytro Patel
17 years ago Featured

Even the airport sign says Kyiv. How do editors miss that?

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Anna Sullivan
17 years ago Featured

Its about time the economist updated their style guide. enough with the soviet stuff.

J
Julia Gorodnichaya
10 years ago

This is thue name of this city!

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