Former Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party MP Ano Turtiainen suffered some big blows last week: he was expelled from the far-right PS (quite a feat for a person who is multiculturally/interculturally challenged), two powerlifting groups in the United States and Canada terminated their business relationship with his company, Metal Sport & Ger (GoMetal). Let’s not forget all the negative publicity he got over a racist tweet that mocked George Floyd’s death.
The fallout continues. Apart from the Finnish Powerlifting Association distancing itself from Turtiainen’s company, which it says it has only had an indirect business relationship, the International Powerlifting Federation and the European Powerlifting Federation are reviewing their relationship with Turtiainen.
The former PS MP’s short-lived career as a racist “dark comedian” and MP came down rapidly in flames.
After Turtiainen was ejected from the PS parliamentary group, he formed his single-MP party called Parliamentary Group Ano Turtiainen (Eduskuntaryhmä Ano Turtiainen). The secretary of the party is James Hirvisaari, who was convicted of ethnic agitation and expelled from the PS in 2013 for posting a picture of a friend doing a Nazi salute in parliament.
For those who still have doubts about Turtiainen’s views, Migrant Tales is publishing below some of his most racist postings. Would you do business with such a man?
1. George Floyd and Pink Floyd
Turtiainen, who lives in a small village called Juva in Eastern Finland, thought he could get away with a racist post about George Floyd, who has galvanized the #BlackLivesMatter movement in the United States. The MP’s “dark humor” faced a shit storm that stained his political career, and business.
The “joke?” George Floyd’s face is colored pink just before he died with the name of the 1960s rock band Pink Floyd. In the same tweet, he wrote that as blacks get more rights, the more unruly they become.
Some have described George Floyd’s death as a modern-day lynching.
Turtianen tried a social media lynching of George Floyd but failed miserably.
2. I love Tampere because Tampere is racist
Turtiainen does not hide his racist views as he does in the posting below, where someone had posted that the Tampere social welfare office is racist because it is against Muslims. Turtiainen responds: “My faith in Tampere was greatly strengthened by this picture [below].”
3. Public swimming pool in East Helsinki
Turtiainen tries a bit of his racist sarcasm with the posting below. He writes that he recommended to the white man in the picture, who is called Arska, to go to a public swimming pool in East Helsinki, where a lot of people of color live. Arska learns that a lot of his tax euros go to Africa and just for the hell of it he plans to swim in East Helsinki in the future as well.
I don’t know if this is a joke but it is pretty racist.
4. God damn it! They are building a mosque in Mikkeli.
One of Ano Turtiainen’s favorite targets is Muslims. A number of Syrians in Mikkeli built a small mosque in 2019. Religious freedom and diversity are guaranteed in Finland but Turtiainen and his followers believe that it only applies to white Christians. He writes: “God damn it. Now the atmosphere in Savo is ruined.”
5. The Caribbean is always near you when it’s Green-generated electricity
It’s pretty clear that Turtiainen does not like black people and even less, members of the Green Party. In the posting below, he states that with Green-generated electricity you can get a feel of the Caribbean in the living room.
Pretty bad and racist.
6. Tank baby carriages for imaginary no-go zones in Sweden
Not losing the chance to take a swipe at people of color and spread lies about imaginary no-go zones like Rosengård in Mälmö, Sweden, Turtiainen’s “dark humor” shows a tank baby carriage because Rosengård is such a dangerous place to live.
He writes in the posting that the Swedes have started to integrate into the daily life of the New Swedes.
7. Everything takes getting used to like your wife in a pandemic
Sexism forms a big part of Turtiainen’s repertoire. In the posting below, he states that it’s understandable that everything takes time getting used to during the Convid-19 pandemic.
8. Asylum seekers liar, liar age on fire
Turtiainen has so much suspicion and hatred for people of color that none of them should be trusted because they are liars. In the posting below, he sarcastically (his dark humor again?) states that it is a school picture taken with teenagers in Sweden.
9. Free speech means you can say anything you want, even racist things
Turtiainen tries to project and justify his racism by using the free-speech card. If his racist postings and statements have caused him to cross swords with a lot of people and groups, one of them was Chief Inspector Jari Taponen, whom he called a “castrated wimp” for telling him that freedom of expression carries responsibilities. Taponen has filed defamation charges against Turtiainen.
Turtiainen comments on Facebook: “They know how to make things up.”
10 Is it Ano or Año?
This is nothing racist published by Turtiainen, but an observation that may fit in with his dark comedian humor.
Ano in Spanish means anus. So if he were to market his products in a Spanish-speaking country, his first name would raise a lot of eyebrows and chuckles. Some words in Finnish don’t sit well in Spanish. Another one of these is Mitsubishi Pajero. Pajero means masturbator. The name of the car in Spanish-speaking countries was changed to Montero.
