25 June 2018•Update: 26 June 2018
By Said Amouri
JERUSALEM
Two Arab members of the Knesset (Israel’s parliament) on Monday congratulated Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on his reelection.
Israel’s Yashir television channel broadcast Abu Arar’s remarks, in which he extended his congratulations to Erdogan -- during an assembly session -- “for his great victory despite the machinations of all those who wanted him to fail”.
Abu Arar’s comments prompted an angry response from right-wing members of the Knesset, with Anat Berko, a member of Israel’s right-wing Likud party, repeatedly interrupting the Arab MP.
Another Arab assembly member, Abd al-Hakeem Haj Yahya, also congratulated Erdogan -- and the Turkish people -- on the latter’s success at the polls.
Erdogan “has turned Turkey from a debtor country into a major power”, he asserted. “That’s why the people reelected him and his party.”
“Turkey should also be congratulated on its effective democratic process,” Yahya added.
On Monday morning, Turkey's official electoral commission announced that Erdogan had won an absolute majority of the presidential vote (52.5 percent) after 97.7 percent of the ballots had been counted.
In terms of Turkey’s concurrent parliamentary race, Erdogan’s Justice and Development (AK) Party, the Republican People’s Party (CHP), the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) and the Good (IYI) Party all surpassed the 10 percent threshold, allowing them to enter the national assembly.
