Diplomacy of names

Iran accepts to change the name of one of streets in Tehran that has been seen as a barrier against having high-level political relations with Egypt. Khaled Eslamboli street in central Tehran changes name to Entefazeh, Palestinian freedom movement, to both show a green light to Egypt and not to abandon goals of Islamic Revolution. In replace, Egypt is going to replace Pahlavi (family name of Shah) on a street in Cairo with Mosaddegh (Iranian prime minister about 60 years ago who made petroleum company a national firm, which was already under the rule of Great Britain).

But for ordinary people like me, changing names is just a game for politicians. We will continue to call the street in Tehran, as before, Vozara (meaning ‘Ministers’). It has been the name of this street since Shah’s period. Diplomacy of names is good for repairing broken political relations, and it may be good for the whole country. People, however, sometimes never get used to some names. Entefazeh is none of our business. We are tired of our government uselessly supporting hardliners abroad. This is a name just for street signs, not for the mouth of people. Cairo (in Persian pronunciation ‘Ghahereh’) could be a much better option.