The situation with articles and country names in German is quite different. The article is essentially affixed to many country names as a standard part of the language, and the lack or presence of the article does not immediately convey regional or sub-national status like it generally does in English.
If anything the connotation is the opposite from English -- articles are generally more attached to certain countries for which Germany has historically had significant relations (for good reasons or bad). In modern times though, it's just another fussy part of the language that one is obliged to put up with and not give a second thought to. One simply has to say "im Frankreich", "in der Türkei", "im Iran" and so forth (but also not attach the article to most other countries), and that's all there is to it.
I wish I could point to an authoritative reference for this, but that's impossible nowadays that we have the zombie internet and everything online has been reduced to shitty apps, flashcards and "didya know?" pages.
If anything the connotation is the opposite from English -- articles are generally more attached to certain countries for which Germany has historically had significant relations (for good reasons or bad). In modern times though, it's just another fussy part of the language that one is obliged to put up with and not give a second thought to. One simply has to say "im Frankreich", "in der Türkei", "im Iran" and so forth (but also not attach the article to most other countries), and that's all there is to it.
I wish I could point to an authoritative reference for this, but that's impossible nowadays that we have the zombie internet and everything online has been reduced to shitty apps, flashcards and "didya know?" pages.