ANKARA, Turkey – Residents of a mainly Kurdish village in southeastern Turkey have sacrificed 44 sheep to celebrate the election of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States.
Dogan news agency video Friday shows villagers in Cavustepe village, in the province of Van, bordering Iran, holding Obama posters smeared with blood. In overwhelmingly Muslim Turkey, the practice is believed to protect people or property from bad luck.
The posters read "you are one of us" and "we love you."
Abdulkerim Kulaz of Cavustepe village says Obama's election and his Muslim ancestry have excited the villagers. Kulaz says Obama's election was a "proof of an end to racism in the world."
Turkey is a close U.S. ally.
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