TURKEY'S MALCOLM X STREET

TURKEY changes name of US embassy street to Malcolm X.

Ankara ; Turkey on Thursday changed the name of the street on which the new US embassy will be located after the black Muslim civil rights campaigner Malcolm X, a correspondent said.

The new American Embassy is still being built in Cukurambar districts in Ankara on what was formerly called 1478  street. Construction contractors BI, Herbert have said the new complex is expected to be finished by 2020.

The renaming comes after the Ankara city council decision last month to change the name to  Malcolm X Street.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan promised the late campaigner's daughters that the name of Malcolm X would ''live on'' in the Turkish capital.

Municipality workers changed the signs of the street on Thursday morning, the correspondent said, as frantic activity continued on the site.

Malcolm X, one of the most influential African Americans in history, was an outspoken Muslim advocate of the rights of blacks and remains a hero today in many blacks and followers of Islam.

Turkey has made similar changes to streets on which embassies are located in a bid to make a political point against a country.

When Washington expressed concern over Turkey's offensive in northern Syria against a US-backed Kurdish militia, Ankara in February renamed the road Olive Branch [Zeytin Dali in Turkish] on which the current US embassy is located after the name of the offensive. [AFP].