Ankara’s city council changes name of avenue after residents’ complaints

Murat Yılmaz – ANKARA

The city council of the capital Ankara changed the name of the “Banga Bandhu Şeyh Mucibur Rahman Avenue” into its shortened version as “Bangabandhu Avenue” on Nov. 9 after regular complaints by residents that it’s hard to pronounce for them.

At the council’s first November meeting, the first topic on the table addressed was regarding the name of the avenue. According to sources, local officials announced that there were serious complaints from the residents regarding it.

It was also declared that “a shortened name was also approved in the talks between Turkey’s Foreign Ministry and the Bangladesh Embassy.”

With a unanimous verdict, the local officials of the parties have shortened the avenue’s name.

The name of the avenue has been a hot topic on social media from time to time. Tired of the name as it is difficult to speak in one go, the residents of the neighbourhood started a petition in 2018 urging to change it.

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was a Bangladeshi politician and statesman born in 1920. He is called the “Father of the Nation” in Bangladesh. He served as the first president of Bangladesh and later as the prime minister of the country from April 17, 1971, until his assassination on Aug. 15, 1975.