ANKARA 

Turkey’s ruling party spokesman on Wednesday slammed the remarks by Israel's prime minister in which he targeted the Turkish president.

"Netanyahu is uncomfortable with the fact that Erdogan is a democratic leader who is elected by the public and he speaks of protecting oppressed people of Palestine," said Omer Celik, the spokesman for the Justice and Development (AK) Party, at a news conference.

“I return the dictator statement to Mr. Netanyahu, who is the most suitable politician in the world for this designation,” Celik added.

Celik condemned Netanyahu's affirmation of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people as “one of the most racist statements in the human history."

On Tuesday, Presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin also condemned Netanyahu's statement as a blatant racism and discrimination.

"1.6 million Arabs/Muslims live in Israel. Will the Western governments react or keep silent under pressure again?" Kalin questioned on Twitter.

On March 12, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel is "a nation state not of all its citizens but only of the Jewish people".

Writing by Zehra Nur Duz