Czech president rejects foreign minister nominee facing racism probe

ISTANBUL

The Czech president on Thursday rejected Filip Turek’s nomination as foreign minister due to his facing an investigation into allegations of incitement to hatred and racism.

According to Radio Prague International, Petr Pavel delivered his response to the list of ministerial nominees submitted by Andrej Babis, leader of the Action of Dissatisfied Citizens (ANO) movement, which won the general election and was tasked with forming a government.

Pavel rejected Turek, a member of the right-wing Motorists Party who is being investigated for multiple offences including incitement to hatred and racism, as candidate to be the nation’s top diplomat.

Pavel also asked Babis to clarify a potential “conflict of interest” stemming from his business activities, adding that he would hold individual meetings with other ministerial candidates.

The parties negotiating the coalition government proposed nominating Turek as environment minister instead of foreign minister, but Pavel said he was not "suitable" for any cabinet post.

Babis, for his part, said he would meet coalition partners to resolve the issues quickly.

The ANO movement, which won the Oct. 3–4 general election, signed a coalition agreement on Nov. 3 with the far-right Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) party and the right-wing Motorists Party.

After Turek was proposed as foreign minister, Czech media resurfaced posts he shared and later deleted on his Facebook account, owned by US-based Meta.

Prague police spokesperson Jan Danek said Turek is being investigated on several charges, including “incitement to hatred, insulting a nation or race, and approving a crime.”

Reports say Turek’s posts referenced Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, and contained repeated racist and sexist remarks. He also reportedly described the deadly 2019 terrorist attacks on mosques in New Zealand as a “cleaning.”

Turek has denied the allegations, calling them part of a “disgusting smear campaign.”