Turks or Russians. Why do Turks love Russians

Slavic cuisine is widely known all over the world. The range of dishes of Slavic cuisine is very diverse, and its popularity in Turkey is growing.
Slavic cuisine is original and original. No country in the world has such a wide range of vegetable, meat, fish and other cold appetizers, first, second, sweet dishes, culinary products.

Residents of Turkey treat everything new with great care, and our cuisine is no exception. Turkey, our dishes amaze with their unusualness, which is worth only okroshka or, for example, borscht. The unusual appearance of our dishes alarms the Turks, but when they try them, they are delighted. Although they do not understand some Slavic dishes and even consider them strange.

What kind of dishes do Turks like, and which ones are better not to cook for Turkish friends and relatives?

Soups and borscht

No other national cuisine has such a variety of soups. From ancient times to the present day, a rich assortment of first courses and dressing soups (shchi, borscht, pickles), saltworts has been preserved. There are more than 60 types of cabbage soup alone in Slavic cuisine. Residents of Turkey have a real love for our borscht. Many, having tasted real borscht, are looking for restaurants with Russian cuisine, and take their friends and relatives there.

But with okroshka, the Turks did not succeed in love. Vegetables filled with kvass cause great bewilderment among the majority - why pour a salad? They do not understand cabbage soup either, especially the traditional sour ones.

Salads

Slavic salads are a separate topic for discussion, representatives of Turkey, who have visited, for example, Russia, consider them to be some amazing achievement of national cuisine. Turks like many salads. For example, the same Olivier. In Turkey, it can be seen as an ingredient in Turkish fast food, as a cold appetizer in restaurants, etc. The Turks call Olivier "Russian" salad. Outwardly and even internally, it looks like the original, but still it is not Olivier. But they are clearly not happy with the vinaigrette. First of all, their appearance confuses them. If you still manage to feed a Turkish guest with it, the first thing he will ask will be: “boiled vegetables?”, And then he may ask why they were chopped so finely. Many residents of Turkey also do not like herring under a fur coat. This dish, a must for the holiday table in Russia, is almost impossible to get Turk to try. First of all, because of the presence of "raw" fish in their understanding.

Jellied and fat

To the Turkish nation, the very idea of ​​meat jelly seems very strange. It is almost impossible to explain why the broth with meat is specially cooled to a jelly-like state. And even just trying this dish is decided, unfortunately, not many. Salo I think it's not worth discussing at all. After all, Turkey is a Muslim country and it is simply a sin for them to eat such an animal as a pig. They consider the pig to be a very dirty animal.

Pickles

The usual pickled cucumbers and tomatoes often cause inexplicable delight among the Turks. In Turkey, pickles are also very popular, where they are called Tursu and are most often vegetable mixtures in brine.

Julia Christodulova

: "Turkey puts all its air and military forces on alert for preventive purposes." moderate left writes: "Russian military aircraft was shot down during the second invasion of Turkish space." And the pro-government publication Sabah informs: "Russia depends on Turkey for energy, according to economic experts in Turkey."

State TV channels are crammed with propaganda, but they do not have stories telling whether Turkey can survive if it does come to a military conflict with Russia. “All forums are now in full swing with discussions,” the Turk, who asked for anonymity, told Gazeta.Ru. - Those who are on the side of Erdogan are mostly people without higher education. Those who have an education understand that all this will not lead to anything good. If economic sanctions are imposed - on tourism, vegetables, fruits or gas, then well ... our country was already poor, now it will become even poorer. However, they are in no hurry to express their views openly on social networks. Gazeta.ru asked the Turks living in the state capital Ankara to tell what they really think about the conflict between the two countries.

Engineer Gokhan Demir:

- We live in the country of our great leader Ataturk, who said: "Peace in the house - peace in the world." So our priority is world peace, no matter what the government's plans are. Most of the Turkish people are against war, we are tired of terrorism and violence, we want order in the economy and all the best for all countries.

But now the whole world is prejudiced against Turkey, regarding it as a "terrorist" because we are Muslims. And it hurts us...

If I brought back yesterday's accident... I don't know, but our government says that "we warned Russia not to cross our border five times in person and many times in other ways." And yesterday a Turkish pilot warned a Russian ten times before the Russian plane was shot down. It fell on the territory of Bayirbucak, where Syrian Turkmens who are fighting against Assad's rule live. And on this territory there is neither (the organization is banned in the Russian Federation), nor America, nor, nor our state interests. Therefore, I think this crashed plane caused an unnecessarily harsh reaction. I think we should use diplomatic channels to warn Russia. I would like Turkey to have strong relations with all neighboring countries. We do not want war or bad relations with Russia. I am a civil engineer, now getting a new education, and I wanted and still want to work in a Turkish company that operates in Russia. For me, nothing has changed. I also apologize for all the innocent deaths in Russia, including the death of a Russian pilot.

Okan Chakar:

“I just think that war is always a bad thing. But we can't control this whole world where big games are played. We love Russians. But three things are important for the Turkish nation: mother, family and country. We are not afraid of those who are going to attack our country. We are a race of warriors. Our cultures are different. Look at the history of Turkey and you will understand me.

Civil engineer Akin Arslan:

— I have always told my Russian friends that they should stand for Putin, as he is a patriotic leader for Russia and reads the world well. We know that Russia has always wanted access to the Mediterranean to control the Middle East. This is the historical goal of Russia. And when Assad asked for help, Putin saw that this was a great chance to achieve this goal. And he found the same excuses that the US did 10 years ago: He would bring democracy to Syrian soil using bombs. But Putin took Iran as his assistant. As you know, we had good relations with Russia. And this attack is a big mistake of the Russians, because the US really wants Russia to get bogged down in this dusty country. The US has been there for 10 years, and we see what is happening with their army. Now Russia is in a big crisis, and this crisis can only deepen. Another mistake is to believe Iran. Another problem is that Putin says he is bombing ISIS, but we are getting news from those lands. They are bombing our Turkish people who live in Syria near the Turkish border! Because they live in a very important area - next to the Mediterranean Sea. Putin is a fox, but he must be careful on our southern border. So it's a difficult problem because we have good relations with Russia. Our army said it had warned Russian planes 10 times, in Russian and English. Therefore, by all the rules, the plane was shot down.

And we have the right to ask the question: why do Russian planes fly near our borders and bomb our villages?

We remember that when Russia entered Crimea, Putin said: "Russia will protect the Russians who live on this land." Now the Turks intend to protect the Turks who live 30-40 km from Turkey!

Ahmet Akan:

Turkish society does not want war. It was reported that there is a cover-up of the corruption of Erdogan and his family. I respect Putin. Russia is on the right track in the battle against terrorists. I apologize for the dead Russian military. Many people think like me that Erdogan's empire and minorities should be destroyed. But we are afraid of the Turkish police.

Gurguch Gulay:

Who wants a war in Syria? Russia is showing its strength in the Middle East. America doesn't do anything directly - it uses our government, which goes along with it, because we are economically dependent on them. Our entire economy is in their hands. I don't know how true it is that, according to our government, Russian planes entered our airspace. Personally, I would not want a war with Russia.

The day before, she noted that the speech did not call for a military escalation of the conflict. The experts of the publication came to the conclusion that there is no talk of war yet. But it seems that Turkey is still waiting for economic sanctions. On Tuesday, Russian customs stopped passing cargo from Turkey. They are sent for a full inspection, while the customs officers do not give any explanation. Products, including meat, clothing and building materials, have already come under strict control. And on Wednesday, the Russian Prime Minister instructed to develop a set of economic and humanitarian measures within two days as a response to Turkey.

We asked Turkish citizens a few questions about who is right and who is wrong in the incident with the Russian bomber.

So, our interlocutors answered the following questions:

1) Were the Turkish military right in their decision to shoot down the SU-24 aircraft?

4) How would you describe the reaction of Turkish society to the incident?

Here are the responses we received:

Hulya, 20, student from Samsun:

1) I believe that the Turkish authorities were right. Since Russia has violated Turkish airspace before.

Now there is no Daesh fighting in the region ( Arab. the name of ISIS - ed.), and the actions of the Russian bombers made no sense. Russia has joined forces with Assad for the same reasons as usual - to gain access to warm seas. But there is no terrorist threat in Syria, our fraternal people live there, so this is a very sensitive moment for us.

2) NATO has international influence, and Turkey wanted to inform NATO, since we are a member of the alliance, and this affects, among other things, the interests of NATO. Türkiye wants support from NATO.

3) Putin's statement sounded very tough, but these problems will be solved. These are big dirty games, and the people here do not decide anything, we are just a faceless mass, we do not know much.

4) This is very hot news for us. There are a lot of Russians living in Turkey, and many more Russians come here as tourists. We are neighbors and we have a good relationship. I think that nothing will change in society - and I hope that political issues will be resolved through diplomacy.

Eylem, 18 years old, student, Istanbul:

1) Of course, a terrible and tragic thing happened, but there are some rules, instructions on how to act in such situations. We must study them before judging either side. Personally, I do not support any military action - I'm just trying to look at the situation through the eyes of politicians.

2) Of course, this is a normal reaction of the president. Common for such situations.

3) I don't know anything about it, so I don't want to answer.

4) Turkish society is very differentiated, however, in general, I do not think that anyone considered the actions of the Turkish military to be so wrong.

B., lawyer, 40 years old, Istanbul:

"Our bastards shot down the plane. Turkey is acting like an idiot. I would like Putin to give a lesson to our president. The United States is behind this. World War III is brewing."

Ekaterina Movsumova, publisher

Despite the ongoing globalization and access to anywhere in the world, many people still think in stereotypes. One of the Runet bloggers talks about the misunderstanding between some Turks and some Russians.

It always seemed to me that in our time, when you can get to anywhere in the world in a few hours, when borders are open, there is a World Wide Web and cosmopolitanism is becoming an integral part of society, this simply cannot be, blogger nottostepback writes.

But many people stubbornly do not want to see anything further than their nose and, sadly, think in clichés.

My life has developed in such a way that I found myself between Russia and Turkey. It is somewhere in between, because living in both of these countries, I have the most reverent and warm feelings for both of them and am ready to admire each of them for a long time. I have to accept and understand both countries, and most importantly - to defend, and paradoxically, but most often - precisely in front of each other.

Misconceptions about Russia: "Vodka, girls, mafia"

Once in a bank, a clerk in a half-whisper and with a conspiratorial face asked my beloved: “You are Russian, right? And do you live in Turkey? Listen, tell me, how do you live here - where do you get vodka? That is, it seems to a civilized bank employee who speaks two languages, apparently an educated person, that if he is Russian, then he does nothing but drink for days on end.

Or here's another story - we traveled around the country with Turkish friends. And in all the cities, seeing a foreigner in the company, the locals were always curious about where I was from. My friends always answered that I was from Poland. This alarmed me. And I decided to clarify - why did they decide to do so strangely with my definitely Russian citizenship. Friends blushed and hesitated, but nevertheless answered: “You understand, we believe that if a girl is Russian, then it means a prostitute. We don't want you to think that way."

But my friend İrenka, who comes from Siberia and lives in Turkey, constantly has to prove that she didn’t have a bear at home and even the snow melted periodically. In all seriousness.

And one more opinion - all Russians are immensely rich and irreparably stupid. They squander money and it costs nothing to spend it.

Since my article is in Russian and for Russians, I will not give here those counter-arguments that I usually bring to the Turks in defense of their homeland. I just want to call on all compatriots to behave in Turkey in such a way that they don’t think of us that we are all alcoholics, prostitutes and mugs who can’t count money. And it's a shame for the state.

Misconceptions about Turkey: "Wild Muslim country"

If I can somehow understand the delusions of the Turks about Russia, then the Russian opinion about Turkey, given that several million Russians visit this country every year, seems not at all clear. "Wild Eastern country", "little civilized", "dirty in places", "poor, in which there is nothing but hotels", "full of religious fanatics who trade women for camels and have 10 wives and 40 children." Why is this such a widespread opinion?

Yes, the main religion in Turkey is Islam. But this is a secular state and polygamy is prohibited in Turkey. Thousands of Russian girls marry Turks and their husbands do not beat them at home, having previously covered them with a veil and locked them in a harem.

The Russians blame the Turks for their lack of culture. And this is despite the fact that Turkish films receive prizes at all international competitions, and prestigious film festivals are held in Turkey itself. There are 189 museums and 131 cultural and historical monuments in the country. Scientific lectures and seminars are constantly held for residents of different cities, sometimes movies or cartoons are shown for free, performances are arranged in the theater, and festivals for children and adults are regularly held. And Istanbul is officially recognized as the European Capital of Culture in 2010.

I also very often hear that the Turks are probably some kind of wild bandits and it’s scary to go there. Turkey has a very low crime rate. You can not be afraid to part with your life here for a hundred rubles or a mobile phone. The probability of getting hit on the head with a bottle in the alley is many times less than in Russia. The benches in parks in Turkey are designed for relaxing strollers, not for sleeping drunken homeless people or gatherings of young drug addicts.

With the level of civilization in Turkey, too, everything is in order. Roads, even far from large cities, are such that you don’t have to regularly think about suspension with pain, and even regular buses that regularly run across them all over the country are the ultimate dream - with mandatory air conditioning, TVs for each passenger and boys carrying tea -coffee and cookies.

And in conclusion, I would like to say about the economy. Turkey's economic growth rate in 2011 was one of the highest in the world. Türkiye has been recognized as the fastest growing country after China. In terms of GDP, Türkiye overtook Russia 4 years ago. And the minimum salary of a Turk is three times higher than that of a Russian.

Conclusion

All countries are different. I would never compare Russia and Turkey, because this is not possible. Each is moving along its own path of development, in accordance with its history and cultural and religious values. In my opinion, this does not mean at all that one of these paths is correct, and the other is not, they are just different paths.

But it seems to me fundamentally important not to try to close oneself in one’s shell, rejecting everything that is unclear and alien, and putting a “bad” stamp on it, without even examining it up close and without trying to understand.

Do not think badly about each other, just out of ignorance. I am always sincerely happy when I manage to show my Russian friends that Turkey is a cultured state, and to the Turks that Russians are good and friendly people.

Diplomat Sergei Koritsky, who has worked in Turkey for more than six years, asked himself: what do Turks know and think about Russia and Russians?

For a month, an employee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who is also an amateur photographer, photographed the inhabitants of Antalya and asked them the same question:

“What are the first three words, phrases, associations that come to your mind when you hear about Russia?”

Among Koritsky's interlocutors are entrepreneurs and waiters, taxi drivers and policemen, artists, students and many others. The answers he heard were both familiar and unexpected and interesting.

Dogan Tudun, carpet shop clerk, 19 years old:

Moscow. Very cold. Tourists. - Do tourists from Russia buy carpets? - Practically no ... - Do you want me to send photos by e-mail? - I don't have an email address.

Mustafa Tümer, student, 26 years old:

Vodka. Beautiful girls. Visa-free regime for Turks. - Have you ever been to Russia? - No, but I really want to go. - Are you a musician? - Music is my hobby, I play in the bar in the evenings. And so I am a student, studying at the Faculty of Management of the Mediterranean University.

Umit Gokdash, tennis coach, 41:

Moscow roads in five or six lanes. Pavel Bure. Maria Sharapova. - Roads in Moscow are really wide, but traffic jams remain... - Unfortunately, this is true, but it's still impressive.

Bulent Yshik, manager of "coffee shop on wheels", 28 years old:

Literature. Rich story. Bargain. - Why bargain? - Russians like to bargain. - Do you know anything from Russian literature? - I read Dostoevsky's "Notes from the Underground" four times.

Eda Su Sezer, bar waitress:

Snow (I came to Antalya from Germany three years ago, haven't seen snow since then, I miss it). Majestic historical buildings (never been to Russia, but I know). I also know that the Russian language is very difficult. - Why did you come from Germany to Antalya? - Fate, perhaps. - Satisfied? - Very.

Atilla Bakhchivan, owner of a small shop, 60 years old:

Friendly people. Democracy. Decency. - Do Russians buy anything from you? - Yes, I have many buyers from Russia.

Yusuf Durmush:

Vodka. Beautiful girls ... - More? - (in Russian) Go to boarding immediately. - ??? - I worked at the local airport for a long time, I will never forget these words.

Onder Felek, restaurant manager, 29:

Lenin. Stalingrad. Gorbachev. - What comes to mind when you remember Gorbachev? - For some reason, his birthmark on his head always reminded me of a map of the island of Cyprus.

Can Emidzhi, member of the dance group "Fire of Anatolia", 40 years old:

Nazim Hikmet*. Saint Petersburg. Dostoevsky. - Have you ever been to St. Petersburg? - Yes, this city made a big impression on me. And in general: three words for Russia are very few. *Nazim Hikmet - a famous Turkish poet, lived and was buried in Moscow in the last years of his life.

Sedat Gundogdu, hairdresser:

Our friendly country. Sochi. Red Army. - Have you been to Sochi? - No, but I watched the opening ceremony of the 2014 Olympics. It was great. - Why the Red Army? - I would like to see the performance of the Red Army Choir in Antalya. I also want to ask a question: do they shave with straight razors in hairdressing salons in Russia?

Agah Gargun, Antalya Harley-Davidson Club coordinator, 47 years old:

Kazan. Grey colour. Train. - Have you ever been to Kazan? - No. - Why gray color? - That's how I feel. - Why a train? - About 30 years ago I watched a documentary about the Trans-Siberian Railway on Turkish television. I still remember.

Bucky Kefes, taxi driver, 49:

Hospitality. Mafia. Russian tourists - without them, our hotels and pockets would remain empty. - Did you go to Russia? - Twice, I lived in Moscow with friends, I really liked it. Have you seen the mafia there? - No.

Selcuk Sodim, 72 years old:

Samara. Putin. Leningrad. - Why Samara? - My son is an engineer, he worked in Samara for some time.

Atilla Türkyilmaz, former physical education teacher, retired:

- Dynamo Moscow. Volleyball player Ekaterina Gamova. Happy men. Why do you think Russian men are happy? - Because Russian women are beautiful.

Osman Bashtug, police officer, 43 years old:

Kars*. Natural gas. Kremlin Palace. - Why Kars? - I served there. They say that Kars is very similar to the old Russian cities. Even today there is a lot reminiscent of Russia. - Do you want to wish something to your Russian colleagues? - I would like to wish the police in Russia, and in other countries, patience. *Kars is a city in the north-east of Turkey, in 1878–1917 it was part of the Russian Empire.

Muharrem and Sibel Iyioz, owners of the Beydagi restaurant:

Benevolent people. Hospitality. Red Square, which we really want to see. - Do Russians come to your restaurant? - Yes, often, Russians are very fond of Turkish cuisine.

Buse Gundogan, member of the dance group "Fire of Anatolia":

Moscow. St. Petersburg ... - The third word? - (in Russian) "Come on!"

Savash Altay, artist, 59 years old:

Great country. Art. Freedom. - In your opinion, in Russia, people of art are free in their work? - I have many friends in Russia - artists, sculptors. I know that in their work they feel free. I will add separately: Russian sculptors are the best in the world. - Behind - is this your portrait? - Self-portrait.

Aziz Dincher, hotel director:

Aralov. Yesenin. Mamaev kurgan. - Why Aralov? - This is the first ambassador of Soviet Russia in Ankara. Along with Frunze and Voroshilov, he played an important role in the history of the Turkish Republic. Do you know Yesenin's poems? - "Goodbye, my friend, without a hand, without a word ...". When I was in Konstantinovo, I saw an autograph of this poem in the museum. Was very impressed. - Have you been to Volgograd? - Certainly. I was also on Mamaev Kurgan. This is the place where the history of the world was made. We must not forget the cruelty of Hitler's fascism and the heroism of Russian soldiers. - It's a bit unusual to see your UAZ on the streets of Antalya with the image of the "Guard" sign on the door. - I love this car. I also have a white Volga, greetings from the 1970s, but it is not running, it is standing in the hotel courtyard under palm trees.

Ali Shahinkaya, cafe manager, 37 years old:

Russians are our friends. Snow. Nuclear power. - Why did you name nuclear energy? - The Russians are building the first nuclear power plant in Turkey. - Where are you from? - From Trabzon.

Ramazan Zerdali, restaurant worker, 25 years old:

Rich culture. Saint Petersburg. Along with the US and the UK, the leading power in the world.

Erkan Ashchi, 31 years old, Erdem Aryci, 32 years old, chefs:

Siberia. Borsch. The Kiev's cutlets. - Of these dishes, what do you cook most often in Turkey? - Sometimes we arrange a “Russian evening” in a restaurant, then we definitely cook Kiev cutlets.

Talat Aktash, sea taxi captain, 44 years old:

Our good neighbor. Great civilization. The country I would like to visit.

This is where our story ends, but I would like to emphasize that in addition to the beauty of a Russian woman, about whom the Turks willingly admire for hours, since they consider themselves "experts", they also have a good understanding of the history of the two peoples, love our poetry, and respect to Russian-Turkish projects.