Today I wanted to tell you what the Turks think of the Russians... Turkey is one of the world's most closely connected countries with Russia. The Ottoman Empire fought with Russia for several centuries, but for centuries the Russian and Turkish peoples have even had time to become blood relatives - Cossacks took out Turks, in Turkey lives a lot of people with Slavic roots.
Soviet Russia played one of the key roles in the first stage of the formation of the post-Ottoman Turkish statehood: Lenin helped Ataturk a lot in his time. But almost the entire 20th century Turkey and the USSR had a very difficult relationship: Ankara reoriented to the U.S. and became one of Washington's key partners in NATO. Now Russia and Turkey are the closest economic partners. Trade between the countries did not stop completely even after Moscow imposed anti-Turkish sanctions, which were then lifted. It is clear that politicians are pursuing their goals, businessmen are concerned about profit, and how do ordinary Turks treat Russia and Russians?
In Turkey, it is customary to distinguish between the state and its people. The attitude towards Russia as a state in Turkey is ambiguous. Many conservative Turks cannot forget Russia and the Crimean Khanate conquered at the end of the XVIII century, and the events in the Caucasus, and the Russian-Turkish wars. On the other hand, there are many secular Turks in Turkey who sympathize with the left-wing forces. For them, Russia is the heir to the Soviet Union and the only alternative to the United States and NATO. Since many people in Turkey negatively assess American policy in the Middle East, the tougher Russia holds on to the U.S., the more its authority in the eyes of ordinary Turks grows.
The attitude toward ordinary Russians is generally benevolent. Russian tourists are taking very big money in Turkey. In fact, they are the mainstay of a significant segment of the tourism industry, where local residents have the opportunity to do business, find jobs in hotels or catering facilities. Naturally, the flow of Russian tourists is profitable for the Turks. And in general, Turks, as Oriental people, are very hospitable.
Many Turks still have a very specific attitude towards Russian women. They are considered easily accessible, which, however, is facilitated by the behavior of tourists themselves. However, nowadays there are a lot of Russian-Turkish marriages, the vast majority of which are between Turkish men and Russian women, although there are cases when Turks marry Russian citizens, especially Caucasians or Tatars.
Turks maintain a very respectful attitude towards Russian culture and literature. Russian classics are still in high demand in Turkish bookstores, and works by major Russian writers have long been translated into Turkish. What to say, if one of the most outstanding poets of Turkey of the twentieth century Nazim Hikmet lived in Moscow for a long time, where he died. Among the political figures of modern Russia, the Turks have the greatest respect for Vladimir Putin - strong leaders are respected in the East. As for the stereotypical "symbols" of Russia in Turkey, they are the beauty of women, vodka, nesting dolls and, of course, the Russian bear. Once a clerk in a bank whispered and with a conspiratorial face asked my beloved one: "You're Russian, aren't you? And do you live in Turkey? Listen, tell me, how do you live here - where do you get vodka? That is, a civilized bank employee who speaks two languages, apparently an educated person, it seems that if a Russian, then all day long only does what he drinks.
Or here's another story - we traveled with our Turkish friends around the country. And in all the cities, seeing a foreigner in the company, the locals were always curious about where I came from. My friends always answered that I was from Poland. I was worried about that. And I decided to clarify why they decided to treat my definitely Russian citizenship so strangely. My friends were blushing and staggered but still replied: "You know, we think that if the girl is Russian, it means a prostitute. We don't want you to be thought of that way.
But my friend Ireneka comes from Siberia, who lives in Turkey, constantly has to prove that the bear was not there at home and even the snow melted periodically. Seriously.
The Turks, who have been to Russia, all say with one voice that they do not like foreigners and that Russians are not friendly, never look into the eyes, never smile and even ask for directions.
And one more opinion - all Russians are countlessly rich and irreparably stupid. They spoil money and spend it on nothing.
I just want to call on all my compatriots to behave in Turkey in such a way that we are not thought of as alcoholics, prostitutes and dummies who cannot count money. Otherwise, we are offended for the power.
