Czech Republic: a racist foreign minister?
Filip Turek, who is under discussion as a candidate for foreign minister in the new Czech government, is facing accusations of racism, homophobia and sexism. Deník N newspaper has published several posts with such content taken from Turek's Facebook page, which were later deleted. Election winner Andrej Babiš has described the problem as"serious" but needs Turek's party Motorists for Themselves to secure a governing majority.
Unfit for political office
Turek is not fit to represent the Czech Republic, Respekt insists:
“Turek denies that he wrote the posts quoted by the newspaper. However, he does admit that he wrote something, but back when he was young and foolish, and that he has since grown older and wiser. He even apologised. From all of this - Turek's Nazi salutes, his lies, his shocking callousness, his remarks about hanging political opponents from lampposts, etc. - it's at least clear that the current candidate for the post of Czech foreign minister is a very sinister figure. One who would simply be excluded from all leading positions in any decent country.”
Babiš would be permanently discredited
Hospodářské noviny says:
“Andrej Babiš understandably doesn't want his second term as prime minister to begin with a controversy that could make waves abroad. And giving a key government post to someone who, for example, describes the massacre [in two mosques] in Christchurch, New Zealand, as a 'cleansing' would be damn hard to explain. Babiš wants to be greeted with respect and taken seriously by world leaders. With Turek as a minister behind him, that would be out of the question. 'Look, that's the guy from the Czech Republic who has this Nazi in his government' would be whispered at every summit. A nightmare for Babiš.”
Intolerance already widespread
Novinky.cz examines the reactions within society:
“Three-quarters of the population are following Filip Turek's latest escapades, and for most of them it's just too much. There is a broad consensus that he should either quit politics altogether or at least give up his foreign ministry demand. ... Although the public reaction gives hope that common sense has not disappeared entirely even after the elections, something is changing - and not just gradually: the problem with Turek's excesses is, among other things, that his views resonate with a considerable section of society.”