Turkey names new US Embassy street 'Malcolm X Avenue'

The street where the new US Embassy building is located in Ankara will bear the name of Malcolm X, the capital's municipality announced on Saturday.

The street in the Cankaya district will be named after US Muslim leader and human rights activist Malcolm X who was assassinated in 1965.

The Metropolitan Municipality Assembly has unanimously accepted the name change.

Malcolm X, who was born in 1925, was assassinated on February 21, 1965 in Washington Heights, New York City, after a relatively short life of immense struggle for the rights of black people.

The civil right activist inspired millions of black families to trace their roots and contributed to black identity with his example and leadership.

Initially a prominent figure in Elijah Muhammad's Nation of Islam movement, he broke away from the group in 1964 and embraced Sunni Islam, adopting the Muslim name El Hajj Malik El Shabazz.

Renouncing the separatist beliefs of the Nation of Islam, he attempted to internationalise the plight of African Americans and to make common cause with the oppressed people of the world.

His life story, The Autobiography of Malcolm X, is considered one of the seminal non-fiction works of the 20th century.