Streets near UAE’s Ankara Embassy renamed after diplomatic row over Ottoman governor

ANKARA

The streets near where the United Arab Emirates’ embassy is located in the Turkish capital Ankara have been renamed after a diplomatic row between Turkey and the UAE erupted over an Ottoman pasha, state-run Anadolu Agency reported on Jan. 9.

The new address is evoking Turkey’s Ottoman heritage in the Middle East, including its defense of holy Muslim sites.

Under a decision by the Ankara Municipality, the 613th Street has been named after Fahreddin Pasha, the Ottoman governor of Medina from 1916-1919. The 609th Avenue in front of the embassy has been renamed “Medine Müdafii,” meaning “the defender of Medina.”

The move comes after social media posts last month by Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan, the UAE’s foreign minister, accusing Fahreddin Pasha of committing crimes against Medina’s population, including theft.

The post drew the ire of Ankara, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his top aide İbrahim Kalın slamming the allegations.

“Where were your ancestors when our Fahreddin Pasha was defending Medina?” Erdoğan asked last month.

He added that the so-called “theft” was actually “protecting the holy relics of the Prophet Mohammed from [British] invaders.”