Filip Turek (racer)

Filip Turek (born 15 October 1985) is a Czech politician, entrepreneur, influencer, and former racing driver. He was elected as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) in the 2024 European parliament election, as the lead candidate for the Přísaha and Motorists alliance.

Early life and education

Turek was born on 15 October 1985 in Prague. He studied applied graphics at the Secondary Private Art School of Design. After graduation, Turek studied commercial and European law, before taking international and diplomatic studies at the University College Prague.

Early career

From 2015 to 2017, Turek was a competitive racing driver, participating in 27 races. The nature of Turek's racing successes has been the subject of debate. Data journalists Kateřina Mahdalová and Michal Škop reported that Turek's wins were in categories where he either raced alone or with one or two opponents, including one amateur and one child, often racing in weaker cars, and Turek usually finished one of the last or last places in the race.

In 2015, Turek self-published ''Paraziti v nás'' (), written by his mother Eleni Turková, a book about alternative healing methods. During the COVID-19 pandemic, one of his companies, Zapper-Club s.r.o., of which he was one of two executives until February 2022 and the sole partner until August 2023, marketed uncertified "anti-virus" home remedies to seniors and others. The State Agricultural and Food Inspectorate issued a warning against the company. However, Turek himself denies any role in these activities.

Involvement in politics

From 2022, Turek began commenting on politics, appearing on the program ''Po žních k Turkovi'' on the Internet television channel VOX TV, as well as the program ''Přisně tajné'' on Xaver Live. His positions included support for a minimal state, questioning of liberal values, and opposition to the euro, the European Green Deal, and the proposed ban on the production of cars with internal combustion engines.

In the 2024 European Parliament election he ran as a non-affiliated candidate for Přísaha, as the lead candidate for the Přísaha and Motorists alliance. He was elected as an MEP with 152,196 preferential votes, the second-highest vote total of any candidate.

Turek was reported to have met with representatives of the Iranian government, for undisclosed reasons.

On 30 May 2025, Turek announced that he would lead Motorists for Themselves in the Central Bohemian Region in the 2025 Czech parliamentary election.

Nazi paraphernalia

During the European election campaign in 2024, several old photos of Turek were circulated online, including one where he wore a golden helmet with a symbol used by the former Greek neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn, one where he appeared to give a Nazi salute from a car, and one featuring a candlestick with a swastika. In a discussion on CNN Prima News, Turek stated that he was a collector, and also had a knife used by SS soldiers, but denied that he was a Nazi sympathizer. Czech police opened an investigation into his gestures, which was concluded in November 2024.

Journalists have also uncovered further old photos of Turek, in which he was wearing a white racing helmet with a symbol used by the aerial-warfare branch of the Wehrmacht Luftwaffe and a fighter wing of the Luftwaffe during World War II Jagdgeschwader 27. Screenshots of his Facebook comments between 2013 and 2018 have been published, in which he refers to Adolf Hitler as a "golden daddy", and writes that he always fills up with 88 litres of fuel.

Personal life

Turek is a collector of classic cars, especially the British brands Jaguar, Aston Martin, Rolls-Royce and Bentley. Since 2006, he has been the chairman of the Jaguar fan club, which he founded. In 2023, the club had 3 members. He is also a shooting enthusiast; his collection of weapons includes a Desert Eagle 50AE after , with whom he became friends after his release.

On 23 June 2025, website ''Page not found'' reported that Turek has been accused by his former partner in a criminal complaint of domestic violence, threatening with a firearm and rape.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Turek, Filip
1985 births
Living people
Businesspeople from Prague
Czech businesspeople
Czech people of Greek descent
Přísaha MEPs
MEPs for the Czech Republic 2024–2029
Czech sportsperson-politicians