“The street was given the name of US Muslim politician and human rights defender Malcolm X, about whom President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said ‘we will make his name live on in Ankara,’” read a statement from the Turkish capital’s municipal authority, state media agency Anadolu reported Sunday, according to Reuters.
The Turkish president met the daughters of Malcolm X during his visit to New York last month.
Ankara’s decision to rename the street comes at a time when relations between the US and Turkey remain tense.
Both countries have been in a diplomatic dispute over reciprocal trade sanctions, tariffs, US support for the Kurdish-led Peoples’ Protection Units (YPG) in the fight against ISIS in northern Syria, and visa policy among other issues.
Relations have shown signs of improvement since the release of US pastor Andrew Brunson, who was freed last week following two years in Turkish detention, and the beginning of training exercises ahead of joint US-Turkish military patrol’s in northern Syria.
The name change follows a familiar pattern. The street where the current US embassy stands was also changed in February to “Olive Branch” following Turkey’s incursion into the previously Kurdish-held city Afrin in Syria – dubbed Operation Olive Branch. The international community had criticized the Turkish move for further destabilizing Syria.
Turkey alleges the YPG is linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The PKK is currently engaged in an armed struggle with the Turkish state for greater minority, cultural, and political rights.
Last December, following a row between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Turkey over the state of the Medina under Ottoman rule, Ankara’s mayor ordered the street hosting the UAE’s mission in Ankara renamed after the former governor of the holy city during Ottoman rule.
The new US embassy in Ankara is scheduled to be completed by 2020.
