“The inhabitants of Juva are quiet about [MP] Ano Turtianen.* It is a sign that there is a lot of shame.”
A Juva resident
THIS POST WAS UPDATED
Juva in the region of Etelä-Savo is a sad example of how a town withers demographically and what types of politicians appear and are supposed to save it from itself.
Etelä-Savo, like Juva, is graying, and rapidly. The population of the region plummeted by 18.2% to 142,380 inhabitants in 2019 from 174,237 in 1990. Thirty percent of the region’s inhabitants are over 65 years old, with Juva having 32%.
In the face of the region’s and Juva’s demographic challenges, voters don’t support people who want effective solutions but body-building politicians like Ano Turtiainen [1] of the far-right Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party.
Turtiainen is no “lawmaker” per se but one who breaks the law.
In 2018, he was convicted of inciting violence against the Finnish Red Cross, which manages many asylum reception centers. The conviction has its roots in 2015.
In that year, asylum reception centers were attacked by white Finns. In 2015, a record number of asylum seekers, especially from Iraq and Afghanistan, came to Finland.
In an interview with Mikkeli-based daily Länsi-Savo, Turtainen boasted after he took away his appeal that the conviction was “a feather in his cap.”
In the year that Turtiainen posted and incited people to attack the Finnish Red Cross, there were fourteen asylum reception centers that were attacked in Finland in 2015.
During that year, over 30,000 asylum seekers came to Finland.
Further reading:
- A Perussuomalaiset lawmaker who shows no regrets in breaking the law
- PS MP Ano Turtiainen flirting with another feather in his cap
The latest incident involving Turtiainen for slamming police Chief inspector Jari Taponen a “castrated wimp” for telling him that freedom of expression carries responsibilities.
Taponen has filed defamation charges against Turtiainen.
[1] Ano is a real name in Finland. The equivalent name for women is Anna. The translation of “ano” in Spanish is anus.