Istanbul - Villagers in the east of Turkey have slaughtered 44 sheep in honour of the victory of Barack Obama in the US presidential election, Zaman daily reported Sunday.

The sacrifice is supposed to protect the first black US president from bad luck, the newspaper reported.

The mainly Kurdish residents of the village of Cavustepe in the province of Van bordering Iran said they loved Obama and were delighted by the fact that his father was raised as a Muslim.

They said Obama's victory indicated that racism in the world was coming to an end. (dpa)