Turkey is doing a lot of honor in the United States. They are building a new embassy in the Turkish capital, Ankara. The municipality has just renamed the street where it is located "Malcolm X" street, named after the American leader of the black cause.
The Ankara City Hall has renamed the street in which the future US embassy is being built "Malcolm X Avenue". This is what the official Anatolia news agency has just announced.
The choice of the name of the controversial activist of the African-American cause appears provocative of the Trump administration, with which Turkey has a very tense relationship despite the release by the Turkish justice of Pastor Andrew Brunson this week.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had prepared his coup. He had met Malcolm X's daughter last month in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. He had promised to "live his name" in Ankara.
In February, already, the mayor of the Turkish capital had renamed the street of the current American Embassy "Olive Branch", in the name of the military operation launched by Turkey in northern Syria against the Kurdish militia YPG , supported by the United States.
A supporter of the violent struggle
The release of Pastor Andrew Brunson, however, must show a relaxation of relations between Ankara and Washington. This pastor has indeed spent twenty months in a Turkish prison. He was accused of having links with Kurdish activists and supporters of the US-based Turkish preacher Fethullah Gulen, himself accused by Ankara of fomenting the coup attempt of July 2016.
In addition, other thorny issues are helping to strengthen the relations between the two countries: Ankara blames Washington for its support for a Kurdish militia in Syria. Same thing for the refusal of the United States to extradite Fethullah Gülen. He has always denied any involvement in the coup that allowed President Erdogan to conduct a huge purge in the Turkish army and administration.
Malcolm X is one of the icons of the American black struggle against racial segregation. Unlike Martin Luther King, a disciple of civil disobedience without violence, Malcolm X claimed the creation of a black nation without excluding violence, which marginalized him from much of the African-American population. He converted to Sunni Islam and gave birth to the Black Muslims movement. He was murdered in 1965 just as Martin Luther King will be three years later.