Qatari businessman gives away three cars to celebrate Erdoğan’s election victory

DOHA

A Qatari businessman vowed to give away three new cars as gifts to celebrate Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s election victory while suggesting to rename his country’s traditional camel races as “the Erdoğan race,” Turkish daily Yeni Şafak reported on June 27. 

Jarallah bin Hamad al-Salameen, a businessman and participant of Qatar’s annual camel races, had vowed before Turkey’s June 24 elections that he would give away three new cars if Erdoğan wins.

After Erdoğan was elected president in the first round of elections, al-Salameen said he was ready to deliver the cars to the competition committee.

“We congratulate the people of Qatar, everyone who loves Erdoğan and the Islamic world. I am gifting three cars to this competition to mark this occasion,” al-Salameen reportedly said.

“I also propose to rename the camel race as the Erdoğan race,” he added.

Dozens of camels race in Qatar’s traditional races every year in the competition also known as the Race of the Sheiks, as most of the animals are owned by the leading families of the Gulf nation.

Although the tradition dates back to the early years of the Islamic period, the human jockeys were recently replaced by “robot jockeys” affixed to their camel’s backs for safety reasons.