FM apologises to Turkey for Purra's racist remarks

Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen apologised to Turkey on behalf of the Finnish government for the racist, violent and anti-immigrant remarks made by Finance Minister and Chairperson of the radical rightist Perussuomalaiset (Finns Party) Riikka Purra.

Valtonen, a leader of the Kansallinen Kokoomus (National Coalition Party-NCP), the largest component of the four-party alliance government, formally apologised to her Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan during the NATO summit in Vilnius on July 11-12, said the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in a twitter post on Wednesday.

“Thank you Hakan Fidan for the good discussions during the NATO Summit (in Vilnius on July 11-12) and last week in Brussels. I also conveyed our government‘s apology for the improper remarks made years ago by a member of our new government,” said the twitter post, quoting the Foreign Minister as saying.

“They are not representative of our values and will never be. Finland appreciates our relationship with Türkiye bilaterally and as an Ally,” Valtonen added.

Widespread controversy raised over the discovery of various racial and anti-immigrants remarks reportedly made by Purra in guise of an identity of ´riikka´ 15 years ago.

The comments were written in 2008 on a blog hosted by former Chairperson of her party Jussi Halla-aho, also Speaker of the present parliament.

The controversial comments written on the Scripta blog included several uses of the Finnish equivalent of the n-word as well as other racial slurs, anti-immigrant rhetoric and apparent threats of violence including racist expressions such as "mocha dicks" and "Turkish monkeys".

Earlier on Wednesday and Tuesday, Purra admitted that she made the controversial remarks on the Scripta blog and apologised for the remarks.

She offered the apology in her twitter post following reports published in several news media and strong criticism in the social media by people from different strata including political leaders.

Earlier on June 30, another Perussuomalaiset leader and Minister of Economic Affairs Vilhelm Junnila decided to resign following the controversy raised over his links to far-right groups.

Another leader and Interior Minister Mari Rantanen faced strong criticism for her social media post related to far-right ideology and immigration.

Speaker of the parliament and former Perussuomalaiset Chairperson Jussi Halla-aho, who hosted the Scripta blog was convicted of inciting hatred against an ethnic group in 2012.