T. R. Ybarra of The New York Times wrote in 1929 that “‘Istambul’ (our usual form for the word is ‘Stamboul’) has always been the Turkish name for the whole of Constantinople”.[26] The Observer wrote that “To the Turks themselves it never was Constantinople, but Istanbul.”[27] In 1929 Lloyd’s agents were informed that telegrams now must be addressed to “Istanbul” or “Stamboul”, but The Times stated that mail could still be delivered to “Constantinople”.[28] However The New York Times stated that year that mail to “Constantinople” may no longer be delivered.[29] In 1929, Turkish nationalists advocated for the use of Istanbul in English instead of Constantinople.[30] The U.S. State Department began using “Istanbul” in May 1930.[31]
Names other than استانبول (İstanbul) had become obsolete in the Turkish language after the establishment of the Republic of Turkey.[15] However, at that point Constantinople was still used when writing the city’s name in Latin script. In 1928, the Turkish alphabet was changed from the Arabic to the Latin script. Beginning in 1930, Turkey officially requested that other countries use Turkish names for Turkish cities, instead of other transliterations to Latin script that had been used in the Ottoman times.[32]
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