The justifications of Sberbank and a number of other companies regarding the reasons why they will not have a foot in the Crimea are full of pragmatism and a sound attitude to risks. Moreover, it should be reminded as often as possible that some write the rules, while others live by them.
Today, as we celebrate the 76th anniversary of the return of Bessarabia and Bukovina, as well as compensation for territorial losses in the post-revolutionary period, it is worth talking about why the Russians always return to their lands and this right quality should not be lost.
How Bessarabia was conquered
The return of these territories happened a few months later than the others - Western Ukraine and Western Belarus (from Poland) and Western Karelia (from Finland), and therefore sometimes drops out of the analysis of pre-war events in Europe. And for those who are not familiar with the history of Russia, they generally give rise to cries "the distraught captured everything he could." These cries are gradually turning into speakers, TV shows, books and even textbooks. Therefore, in order.
With the fall of Constantinople in the 15th century, the supreme patron of the Orthodox in Eastern Europe became the Sovereign of Moscow (Russian Tsar, Emperor of All Russia). This alone suggested conflicts with Ottoman Empire. Back in the 18th century, an agreement was reached between the empires regarding the Danube principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia, fixed by the results of previous wars: Kyuchuk-Kaynarji (1774) and Iasi (1791) peace treaties. The principalities remained vassals of the Porte, but had autonomy. In particular, the Sultan could not change their rulers without the consent of Russia. Reason for another Russian-Turkish war(1806-1812) was just a violation of this agreement.
The Turks violated it, most likely, not because they are so harmful. But because the French party at court Turkish Sultan at that time was more influential than the British. Russia and Great Britain, as we remember, in early XIX centuries managed to form several coalitions against Napoleon. And Napoleon managed to break these several coalitions and intrigued himself to the best of his ability.
The mood of the population of Moldova is already evidenced by the fact that at the beginning of the war Russian troops took four fortresses without a fight. In general, this war dragged on for almost 7 years. The threat from Napoleon did not allow the transfer of large forces to the south. After the conclusion of the Treaty of Tilsit with Napoleon (1807), this factor was replaced by another: now Britain began to push the Ottomans to take active steps, lending money to the Sultan. However, at the end of 1811 Russian troops managed to inflict a series of defeats on the Turks and force them to ask for peace. The Bucharest peace treaty (May 1812) fixed the transfer of part of the Moldavian principality, called Bessarabia, to Russia. In its composition, she was until 1917.
How Bessarabia was lost and returned
During the revolution and the Civil War, our neighbors did not fail to take advantage of the situation. Despite the decision proclaimed in 1917 by the Moldavian people's republic to become part of the RSFSR, in the spring of 1918, Romanian troops invaded the territory of the former Bessarabian province, surrounded the local parliament and convinced it to vote again. At the same time, ardent opponents of joining Romania were simply arrested before the vote. And as part of the new Russian state only the left bank of the Dniester remained (conditionally - the current PMR). Of course Soviet Russia did not accept the loss of Bessarabia.
The operation to return it was prepared approximately from the beginning of 1940. Vyacheslav Molotov (head of government and head of the Foreign Ministry) made his first thematic statement at the end of March: he hinted that there was no non-aggression pact between the countries. Romanian attempts to enlist German support came to nothing. In the end, on June 25, Romania received an ultimatum demanding the return of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina. Soviet Union and was extremely reluctant to do so. June 28 Soviet troops began to occupy Bessarabia, and on July 3 a military parade was held in Chisinau.
The loss of territories became one of the formal reasons for the coup in September 1940 and the establishment of the dictatorship of Ion Antonescu. And then the participation of Romania in the war with us on the side of Germany. However, the Germans would still have found a way to get into their sphere of influence an oil-rich country, the loss of which in August 1944 proved fatal for Hitler.
conclusions
As we already know, in our time. True, now Romanian appetites are also spreading to the territory of Transnistria, which even in 1918 did not have the audacity to seize. True, since the beginning of the 1990s, Moldova's independent frenzy has subsided a bit. Therefore, it somehow did not work out immediately to reunite with Romania. And in 2007, the latter joined the EU, and since then the suffering of the unionists (supporters of unification with Romania) is not much different from the Ukrainian sect of witnesses of the visa-free regime. However, it is not suffering that is important to us, but conclusions.
1. Since 1918, the Romanian business has practically invested nothing in Moldova, which was squeezed from Russia - they were afraid that one day the Russians would return, and then the money was crying. One can only envy the sagacity of the Romanians, who managed to predict the future 22 years ahead in such a turbulent time. The Russians are indeed back.
2. In the same way as before they returned to the rest of the temporarily occupied territories. No one can complain that we then bypassed someone with attention. And a couple of decades of the territory being within the boundaries of another sovereignty is not a very weighty reason to reckon with it.
3. Fortunately, we have not lost the habit of returning. Another thing is alarming, namely, that the state is behaving correctly in relation to Crimea, but not business. Business is reminiscent of Romanians in Bessarabia. Fearfully squinting towards the mainland in anticipation of divisions of the Ukrainian army and pennants of the victorious Ukrainian fleet. We are forced to believe in these fears, otherwise it is difficult to understand what other irresistible force in the representation of business threatens the current status of this subject of the Russian Federation.
4. The Russians then returned not only because they are such good fellows. But because the Romanians took the territory, but did nothing. And there is no land without a landlord, there is a landlord without land.
Two Russian women of post-Balzac age very accurately described the check-in queue for my Turkish Airlines flight: “Men, Turkish wives, and you and I, damn it ...” Somehow it was like that. Plus, I'm on a business trip: to see what they say about us in Antalya and Istanbul.
Passport control employees, stern aunts in uniform:
— Where are you flying to?
- To Turkey.
- Purpose of the trip?
— Tourism.
- Ah, tourism ... Well, well. Lenk, did you see? These Russians don't care where to fly!
What has fundamentally changed is a sharp stratification (however, it was felt before). Antalya looks at everything that happens in a completely different way than Istanbul.
Antalya is a desert. From a rocky cliff in Ataturk Park under a peach sky, a breathtaking view of absolutely deserted beaches opens up. The alley stretching along the coast is surrounded by beach cafes. Post-apocalyptic view: boarded up doors, broken glass, plastic chairs piled in a heap, garbage in refrigerators ... Here, in general, no one understands either Russian or English, except for homeless dogs and cats lying on pebbles in abundance. Such a ball led me to the only open cafe on the beach.
A Russian Moldavian from St. Petersburg, Elena, who has an apartment in Antalya, immediately told me: “Oh, the first Russian face for three days. So strange! The season is over, but the Russians usually stick around here until mid-December, they are not cold! Yesterday I was at the Russian market - no one! And in Migros ( Turkish chain supermarket — A.E.) too, even in the old city you can’t hear Russian speech. And also these stupid planes, there are no direct flights from St. Petersburg, and our border guards made such a face with Donut and me when we flew out ... " (The donut turned out to be Timur's son, who works in Antalya, St. Petersburg, and Moscow.)
Elena learned Turkish back in Moldova, where she lived next to the Gagauz, “These are the same Turks, the language is very similar, only they were forced to be baptized.”
The bazaar is a chaos of shops with fruits, nuts, spices, olives, vegetables, cheeses, shoes, clothes, watering cans, clothespins, hair clips and a lot of other junk. An endless web that wraps around the city center. A Turkish son of a Russian father who sells olive oil told me that there were no Russian sellers in the bazaar, and that the Russian buyers were mostly the wives of Turkish husbands and they spoke Turkish.
In big mall Migros is a blonde with a scythe, who is also carrying a blonde in a stroller, and also with a scythe, only a small one, comforted me:
- There are a lot of Russians here, you will definitely meet them in the old town.
- Haven't they decreased due to recent events? Something has changed?
- What has changed? Or do you think everyone will immediately leave their children-husbands and run? Of course not! Tell them that everything is fine with us, let them come.
Antalya wakes up in the afternoon, like many southern cities. On the famous Kaleichi descent, I was lured into a shop by a smart Russian-speaking salesman Memet.
— Are the Russians good? A lot of them?
- OK good! I have a Russian wife, from Novosibirsk, my daughter is 5 years old. Now it's… a difficult political situation and the season is over. But they will be back, in 2-3 months. As soon as the season is over, they'll be right back. The Russians always come back.
— What do you think about politics? Did your president do the right thing?
- Of course, right. They flew over our territory, they were warned 10 times that they had violated the border, they were asked to get in touch. They did not answer, ours did not even know whose plane was shot down, because there is a war in Syria. Why did they fly to us?
- And what will happen if the Russians impose sanctions against Turkey?
— And nothing, as with tourists. In 2 months they will still remove it, it will be more expensive for Russia. You go to Khurma, you will see everything yourself.
By the definition of Elena from St. Petersburg, the rich area of \u200b\u200bKhurma - "This is such a Turkish Rublevka, for Russians." At the entrance to Khurma, there are Russian nesting dolls in the park. The first is taller than human height, and then smaller, smaller. Behind them are mountains. The farther into the interior of the block, the more luxurious the houses, the more signboards in Russian and the women of Slavic appearance. The first to speak to me are two shopkeepers with a sign in two languages: “Akdeniz Butik. Shoes and clothes. The hostesses turn out to be Turkish women from Kazakhstan and they say in perfect Russian:
— There are a lot of Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians in Turkey. So, as here, Russians are not treated anywhere. As with brothers and sisters. Just last week we hung a sign on purpose and in Russian too.
And the government doesn't forbid it? And then, you know, we already write slogans: “Whoever travels to Turkey is not a patriot ...”
- No! Our government is for the Russians! If they were against it, we would not hang.
Then there is a completely surreal sign: “BORSCH + 50 gr + Borodinsky - 20, Grandmother's pies - 3, Herring + Beer - 15, Belyashi - 5, Cheburek + Beer - 16, Dumplings 1 kg - 30". The cafe is called "Toros café", three women smoke at the table, on the bar counter there is a festively packed brick of Borodino with the group's signature in FB "Russians in Antalya". Cafe owner:
Yes, we are Russians. We have husbands and children here, we moved here, opened this place. Not for tourists, for our locals. More Russians live in Hurma than in the rest of Antalya. We are loved here. And in connection with recent events love even more! Our Turkish neighbors come, from the pharmacy opposite, they support us, they say that everything will settle down. We watched Russian news, this is some kind of nonsense. They say that you can not fly here, everything is bad here. And we have nothing like that, it's all bad in Russia, but here nothing has changed. And about Russian wives, they say, you have a lot. Why are they beating us here, taking away our bread, forcing us to wear a veil! So look at us and write that they treat us well, there my husband is standing in a vest - wonderful person. And they feed us well, well, you can see from us! Russian wives in Antalya - 20,000. We have here good business, and not only here. Here is Borodino bread and kvass brought to us by a Russian young man Alexei, everything is fine with him too. There were no riots here, if there were, they would have started with us, they would have come to Khurma, right there it was just us. If there are dissatisfied people somewhere, then maybe in Istanbul ...
Morning Istanbul surrounds me with market noise, ambulance sirens, prayer sounds and sellers of everything in the world who literally jump out of their shops screaming: “Girl, gold! Sheepskin coats, fur vests, sweets!” I have been thinking for a long time what switches sellers to Russian faster, - Slavic appearance, dark brown hair or a camera in my hands. To begin with, I fall into the clutches of a jeans dealer: his father is Russian, his mother is from Tajikistan, he works and studies here, but it became difficult to work.
I don't remember a year like this one. You don’t see that everything is so beautiful here, there are many shops, the sellers are cheerful, you ask what they have at home, with their families - they will cry. Now there are these sanctions, Russia has stopped buying, goods are standing at the border, they don’t let anything through, everything is spoiling, there is no money. And it was so bad, now there are still refugees. The President decided to let Turkmens from Syria come here, but here his people have nothing to eat! And it was impossible to do this with Russia, now he will go kiss Putin's feet, apologize, in order to return it as it was. If Russia does not buy, there will be no Russian tourists, we will have nothing to eat. I watch Russian news, they say that the Russian president is waiting for an apology, but ours does not want to apologize. But he will have to.
- You, probably, Russian television look? I say.
“Well, yes,” he replies, puzzled. — And what are you?
There are indeed many refugees on the streets, but this does not frighten the Uzbek waiter in the nearest cafe. He also did not notice that there were fewer Russians, but he knows for sure that President Erdogan is wrong:
- It was impossible to do this with Russia, now they will not buy vegetables from us! I am from Uzbekistan, so I am for Russia.
In the evening at the reception I was met by the owner of the hotel - a Turk who speaks good Russian. Over tea he complains:
- There are no Russians at all now. This is very bad. It's winter in the resorts now, but we have a season all year round, we have a business here, trade. No trade - no hotels. People like to stay here because the location is good - metro, shops, cargo nearby, center. It's unclear how this will end. Of course, they violated our borders in vain, it’s impossible, the military did the right thing by shooting down. But what are people to do now?
He watches Turkish television. "And what else?"
- The most such problem, a lot of problem - this is Limonov, - he suddenly says.
How do you know Limonov?
Everyone here knows. Many, many lemons stand on the border, they will go bad. And more tomatoes. They don't let tomatoes in. What are they to blame?
— What are your memories of the Russian guests?
- Yes normal people almost exactly like us. No conflicts, nothing.
- Will there be a war? I ask.
What are you, what kind of war? Who needs us so much as the Russians? And who else needs Russians so much? ..
"...The most big mistake is to neglect the Russians.
Offend the Russians.
Never offend Russians.
Russians are never so weak
as you think.
God forbid expel the Russians or take something away from the Russians.
The Russians always come back.
The Russians will come back and take back what's theirs.
But when the Russians return,
They destroy everything in their path.
Don't hate Russians.
Otherwise, when the Russians return to earth with the graves of their ancestors,
living on this earth will envy their ancestors - the dead..."
Excellent book by German Sadulaev
German Sadulaev. wolf jump
Essays political history Chechnya from Khazar Khaganate to the present day,
M.: Alpina non-fiction, 2012.
There are books that are ahead of their time. Let's do without listings. All in sight. There are books that it would be better not to write. And there are simply written at the wrong time. Such, in my subjective opinion, is German Sadulaev's book "The Leap of the Wolf: Essays on the Political History of Chechnya from the Khazar Khaganate to the Present Day." The author is half Chechen, half Russian. The only true alloy of blood for an attempt at an objective study of Russian-Chechen relations. Why not in time? Very simple. Neither Russians nor Chechens need this book. It will be too unpleasant for both of them to read it. The issue of targeting is very important, we will return to it later.
Why won't the Chechens like the book? It's not even about the name, although it is clearly not to the liking of the faithful Muslim to consider the Vainakh ethnic group to have come out of the Judaic Khazaria. Sadulaev for the first time in Russian literature claims commonness Chechen people, debunks the myths that have settled in the minds of this ethnic group. Yes, they are not of iron, not of stone; their intransigence is overblown; the slogan “freedom or death” is conditional, invented by the Russian intelligentsia of the 19th century, absorbed by the Chechens at the level of national egoism, but it is alien to the nature of the Vainakh tribes. They ordinary people, from flesh and blood, who want to live peacefully, raise children, work on their own land, and so that no one gets into their internal affairs. They will decide. Good or bad, it doesn't matter. Most importantly, yourself.
Why would Russians not like the book? Lack of historical correctness. Let's make a reservation right away: by Russians we mean the entire Russian-speaking population that identifies itself with this culture. Sadulaev harshly and resolutely rips off the heroic gloss from all Caucasian wars from imperial times to the present day. The Russian statehood has been sticking its snout in the wrong trough for three hundred years, sticking it when no one asks about it. He imposes his own rules where no one needs them, organizes the genocide of the local population without any historical justification, populates Chechnya with Russians, and then leaves them to their fate, gets into the internal fight of the Chechen national movements and crushes everyone in a row, not calculating the bearish power. He leaves without salty slurping, so he did not prove anything to anyone.
Returning to the question of the addressee, it becomes extremely important for whom did German Sadulaev write this book? Certainly not for Russians and not for Chechens. And at the same time: only for them. For us.
And now even more important question Q: why this book? It is one hundred percent contrary to the official, state-approved point of view on the history of Russian-Chechen relations. She contradicts this point of view, caustically ridicules it. History consists of bare facts, but it is always written by the winners, giving the facts the right interpretation. Today this book is equally unpleasant for both Chechens and Russians. After all, we are used to the fact that there must always be a winner, there are always right and wrong, perfidious and just. And Sadulaev tells us: no, there is only historical processes. How to explain this to a soldier left without a leg, who drinks half the night, and in the morning jackals in the subway? How can I say this to a resident of the village of Novye Aldy, in front of whom their neighbors were shot? How? Is it embarrassing to think about it? Again a closed topic?.. But the point is not that it is unpleasant to remember, something else is more important: you must not forget.
And at the same time, in the depths of your soul, you understand: Sadulaev is right, a thousand times right. Killer ambivalence.
And yet there is something that unconditionally captivates in the study of a semi-Russian-receipt. A subtle, unspoken, almost lyrical love for both peoples. Mutual recognition of their greatness. And passionate, beyond the rules and logic, the desire for the brotherhood of these peoples. There is no warm response to this essay either in the press, or on television, or on radio. They don't even discuss it on the Internet. And they won't discuss. Everything is calm in Chechnya. The question is closed. Closed, but not resolved.
Here's another interesting fact from Lem's stories about his life.
In 1941 Soviet Lvov- where Lem managed to study for a year in the Soviet medical school and even managed to get an invitation to join the Komsomol, which he refused, referring to the fact that he still had to work on raising his consciousness - he was captured by the Nazis (German and Ukrainian). Accordingly, all studies at a Soviet university became, as it were, unnecessary, so all student documents - transcripts, certificates, certificates, seals, everything - everything was thrown into a landfill.
But one Benedictian monk in the same 1941 came to this dump and carefully collected all the documents. And when the USSR, represented by the Red Army, returned a few years later, those students who survived, then bought their documents from this monk - some even, as Lem recalls, even corrected their student documents in the direction of improvement.
A very revealing, albeit small, fact. This obscure monk apparently knew one historical and political law: Russians always come back.
In the film (quite stupid) "Peculiarities of National Fishing", a Finnish woman says almost the same thing to her Finn husband (I quote from memory): "You know, my grandmother caught the Russian times and told me:" The Russians will definitely come back for their vodka "".
Seriously, I remember very well how in 1991, when everything and everything collapsed, I read in some newspaper an article by a Hungarian philosopher unknown to me, who said that about once every 50 years, everyone, and especially Russia's neighbors, one gets the impression that Russia no longer exists, and that one can wipe one's feet about it, give a damn and forget about it. And that every time it ended with the fact that in the attic or mezzanine I had to look for dust-covered Russian phrasebooks and learn phrases like: "I am a simple peaceful citizen" or "Don't shoot, we surrender!" or something like that.
Another return of the Russians happened faster than I expected in 1991.
Here - for too slow-witted comrades - I must make a reservation. For me personally more more interesting return of the Red Army, but the fact that at that time it consisted largely of Russians is a factor of the second kind, although for me, as a Russian, it is pleasant.
Secondly, the current return makes me doubt - in the sense that its basis, remembering our thieves, priests and the bourgeois essence of today's Russia in general - its basis is very rotten and whether this will lead to big problems, given that they play too much against there are many much more powerful players, and Russia has no allies at all (the USSR had allies everywhere, in the middle of the century, almost everyone who believed in socialism was to some extent also de facto pro-Soviet).
But nevertheless - reading the Western press specifically - one can say that the Russians have returned again. Let's see what happens.
Deserted beaches of Antalya. Photo: Anastasia Egorova / Novaya Gazeta
Two Russian women of post-Balzac age very accurately described the check-in queue for my Turkish Airlines flight: “Men, Turkish wives, and you and I, damn it ...” Somehow it was like that. Plus, I'm on a business trip: to see what they say about us in Antalya and Istanbul.
Passport control employees, stern aunts in uniform:
— Where are you flying to?
- To Turkey.
- Purpose of the trip?
— Tourism.
- Ah, tourism ... Well, well. Lenk, did you see? These Russians don't care where to fly!
What has fundamentally changed is a sharp stratification (however, it was felt before). Antalya looks at everything that happens in a completely different way than Istanbul.
Antalya is a desert. From a rocky cliff in Ataturk Park under a peach sky, a breathtaking view of absolutely deserted beaches opens up. The alley stretching along the coast is surrounded by beach cafes. The view is post-apocalyptic: boarded up doors, broken glass, plastic chairs piled up in a heap, garbage in refrigerators… No one here understands either Russian or English, except for stray dogs and cats lying on the pebbles in abundance. Such a ball led me to the only open cafe on the beach.
In a lonely visitor at the table, I accurately identified the Russian by Botox and tattoo on the lips from 15 meters away.
A Russian Moldavian from St. Petersburg, Elena, who has an apartment in Antalya, immediately told me: “Oh, the first Russian face in three days. So strange! The season is over, but the Russians usually stick around here until mid-December, they are not cold! Yesterday I was at the Russian market - no one! And in Migros ( Turkish chain supermarket — A.E.) too, even in the old city you can’t hear Russian speech. And also these stupid planes, there are no direct flights from St. Petersburg, and our border guards made such a face with Donut and me when we flew out ... " (The donut turned out to be Timur's son, who works in Antalya, St. Petersburg, and Moscow.)
Elena learned Turkish back in Moldova, where she lived next to the Gagauz, “These are the same Turks, the language is very similar, only they were forced to be baptized.”
The bazaar is a chaos of shops with fruits, nuts, spices, olives, vegetables, cheeses, shoes, clothes, watering cans, clothespins, hair clips and a lot of other junk. An endless web that wraps around the city center. A Turkish son of a Russian father who sells olive oil told me that there were no Russian sellers in the bazaar, and that the Russian buyers were mostly the wives of Turkish husbands and they spoke Turkish.
In the large shopping center Migros, a blonde with a braid, who was also carrying a blonde in a stroller, and also with a braid, only a small one, consoled me:
- There are a lot of Russians here, you will definitely meet them in the old town.
- Haven't they decreased due to recent events? Something has changed?
- What has changed? Or do you think everyone will immediately leave their children-husbands and run? Of course not! Tell them that everything is fine with us, let them come.
Antalya wakes up in the afternoon, like many southern cities. On the famous Kaleichi descent, I was lured into a shop by a smart Russian-speaking salesman Memet.
— Are the Russians good? A lot of them?
- OK good! I have a Russian wife, from Novosibirsk, my daughter is 5 years old. Now it's… a difficult political situation and the season is over. But they will be back, in 2-3 months. As soon as the season is over, they'll be right back. The Russians always come back.
— What do you think about politics? Did your president do the right thing?
- Of course, right. They flew over our territory, they were warned 10 times that they had violated the border, they were asked to get in touch. They did not answer, ours did not even know whose plane was shot down, because there is a war in Syria. Why did they fly to us?
- And what will happen if the Russians impose sanctions against Turkey?
— And nothing, as with tourists. In 2 months they will still remove it, it will be more expensive for Russia. You go to Khurma, you will see everything yourself.
By the definition of Elena from St. Petersburg, the rich area of \u200b\u200bKhurma - "This is such a Turkish Rublevka, for Russians." At the entrance to Khurma, there are Russian nesting dolls in the park. The first is taller than human height, and then smaller, smaller. Behind them are mountains. The farther into the interior of the block, the more luxurious the houses, the more signboards in Russian and the women of Slavic appearance. The first to speak to me are two shopkeepers with a sign in two languages: “Akdeniz Butik. Shoes and clothes. The hostesses turn out to be Turkish women from Kazakhstan and they say in perfect Russian:
— There are a lot of Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians in Turkey. So, as here, Russians are not treated anywhere. As with brothers and sisters. Just last week we hung a sign on purpose and in Russian too.
And the government doesn't forbid it? And then, you know, we already write slogans: “Whoever travels to Turkey is not a patriot ...”
- No! Our government is for the Russians! If they were against it, we would not hang.
Russian wives. Photo: Anastasia Egorova / Novaya Gazeta
Then there is a completely surreal sign: “BORSCH + 50 gr + Borodinsky - 20, Grandmother's pies - 3, Herring + Beer - 15, Belyashi - 5, Cheburek + Beer - 16, Dumplings 1 kg - 30". The cafe is called "Toros café", three women smoke at the table, on the bar counter there is a festively packed brick of Borodino with the group's signature in FB "Russians in Antalya". Cafe owner:
Yes, we are Russians. We have husbands and children here, we moved here, opened this place. Not for tourists, for our locals. More Russians live in Hurma than in the rest of Antalya. We are loved here. And in connection with recent events, they began to love even more! Our Turkish neighbors come, from the pharmacy opposite, they support us, they say that everything will settle down. We watched Russian news, this is some kind of nonsense. They say that you can not fly here, everything is bad here. And we have nothing like that, it's all bad in Russia, but here nothing has changed. And about Russian wives, they say, you have a lot. Why are they beating us here, taking away our bread, forcing us to wear a veil! So look at us and write that we are treated very well, my husband is standing in a vest - a wonderful person. And they feed us well, well, you can see from us! Russian wives in Antalya - 20,000. We have a good business here, and not only here. Here is Borodino bread and kvass brought to us by a Russian young man Alexei, everything is fine with him too. There were no riots here, if there were, they would have started with us, they would have come to Khurma, right there it was just us. If there are dissatisfied people somewhere, then maybe in Istanbul ...
Morning Istanbul surrounds me with market noise, ambulance sirens, prayer sounds and sellers of everything in the world who literally jump out of their shops screaming: “Girl, gold! Sheepskin coats, fur vests, sweets!” I think for a long time what switches sellers to Russian faster - Slavic appearance, dark blond hair or a camera in my hands. To begin with, I fall into the clutches of a jeans dealer: his father is Russian, his mother is from Tajikistan, he works and studies here, but it became difficult to work.
I don't remember a year like this one. You don’t see that everything is so beautiful here, there are many shops, the sellers are cheerful, you ask what they have at home, with their families - they will cry. Now there are these sanctions, Russia has stopped buying, goods are standing at the border, they don’t let anything through, everything is spoiling, there is no money. And it was so bad, now there are still refugees. The President decided to let Turkmens from Syria come here, but here his people have nothing to eat! And it was impossible to do this with Russia, now he will go kiss Putin's feet, apologize, in order to return it as it was. If Russia does not buy, there will be no Russian tourists, we will have nothing to eat. I watch Russian news, they say that the Russian president is waiting for an apology, but ours does not want to apologize. But he will have to.
- You probably watch Russian television? I say.
“Well, yes,” he replies, puzzled. — And what are you?
There are indeed many refugees on the streets, but this does not frighten the Uzbek waiter in the nearest cafe. He also did not notice that there were fewer Russians, but he knows for sure that President Erdogan is wrong:
- It was impossible to do this with Russia, now they will not buy vegetables from us! I am from Uzbekistan, so I am for Russia.
In the evening at the reception I was met by the owner of the hotel - a Turk who speaks good Russian. Over tea he complains:
- There are no Russians at all now. This is very bad. It's winter in the resorts now, but we have a season all year round, we have a business here, trade. No trade - no hotels. People like to stay here because the location is good - metro, shops, cargo nearby, center. It's unclear how this will end. Of course, they violated our borders in vain, it’s impossible, the military did the right thing by shooting down. But what are people to do now?
He watches Turkish television. "And what else?"
- The most such problem, a lot of problem - this is Limonov, - he suddenly says.
How do you know Limonov?
Everyone here knows. Many, many lemons stand on the border, they will go bad. And more tomatoes. They don't let tomatoes in. What are they to blame?
— What are your memories of the Russian guests?
- Yes, normal people, almost exactly like us. No conflicts, nothing.
- Will there be a war? I ask.
What are you, what kind of war? Who needs us so much as the Russians? And who else needs Russians so much? ..
especially for Novaya Gazeta
