Residents of Turkey's little Russia-on-sea fear deepening political feud

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/10/turkey-russia-antalya-tourism-political-feud

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Inside the Shemall shopping centre in Turkey’s coastal city of Antalya, dozens of children from local Turkish and Russian schools sing animatedly while holding hands.

It’s a timely show of solidarity, part of a number of annual cultural events being held across the Mediterranean coastal city this month that have taken on added significance amid a deepening feud between Ankara and Moscow.

Related: Russia imposes sanctions on Turkey over downed plane

With the Turkish community in Russia reporting incidents of harassment since Turkey shot down a Russian jet near the Syrian border last month, members of Antalya’s 40,000-strong Russian expatriate community are hoping such hostilities won’t be repeated here.

But locals admit the situation has become tense since Russian president Vladimir Putin and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan took aim at each other in a diplomatic feud that has continued to rumble on for days.

“There are some worries, I have to confess, because my family is in Russia and I [would] like my father and brother to come here with their families,” says Svetlana, a native Muscovite who moved to Turkey 13 years ago.

“If we will have a visa regime again, it’s going to be harder,” she adds, referring to one of the punitive measures announced last month by the Kremlin which will limit travel between the countries.

Others admit that the diplomatic spat has contributed to a quiet but growing fear in the community. “They said, ‘Stupid Russians, go back to Russia. It’s really nice that your plane crashed in Egypt. We hate you’,” Alina, a 29-year-old Russian expat, recalls of a recent encounter with a group of Turkish teenagers in Antalya’s city centre.

Special measures

Putin issued an executive order “on measures to ensure Russia’s national security” four days after the bomber was shot down by a Turkish air-to-air missile, which included new “special economic measures against Turkey”.

Aside from a series of employment and visa bans on Turkish nationals, it ordered Russian travel agents to “suspend the sale to Russian citizens of products that envisage visiting the territory of the Turkish Republic” and ordered the government to roll out a ban on charter flights between the two countries.

The city now boasts the Moscow-themed Kremlin Palace hotel and Mamma Ruski, a “traditional” Russian restaurant

Antalya has been quick to feel the economic affects of such political manoeuvres: Turkey was until November the most popular foreign holiday destination for Russians, with 3.3 million travelling there in the first nine months of this year, according to government figures.

The vast majority of them head for Antalya and the surrounding coastline, shielded by the Taurus Mountains to the north and the Mediterranean to the east. Last year, Russian tourists contributed an estimated $6bn to Antalya’s economy.

To court Russians, the city now boasts the Moscow-themed World Of Wonders Kremlin Palace hotel, Konyaalti’s Matryoshka Park with its oversized Russian nesting dolls, and the Mamma Ruski, a “traditional” Russian restaurant.

Tolga Baris, a sales and marketing manager whose job it is to fill local luxury hotels, says tourism companies will now need to court visitors from elsewhere, including the former Soviet republics such as Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine.

Family

In spite of these measures and the harsh political rhetoric, many in the Russian expat community say their Turkish neighbours continue to embrace them into local life.

“We are like a big family,” says Larisa, an organiser at one of Antalya’s cultural festivals. “The relationship [between the communities] is growing year by year,” she says. “It can’t be destroyed in a moment. That’s impossible.”

Related: Russia steps up hostility against Turkey with war room briefing

Irina Balci, the head of the locally-run Russian Arts and Culture Association, has called Antalya home for eight years, and says Russians are well-integrated, with family playing a big role.

“Russians who are married to Turks are integrated into Turkish families and in Turkish neighbourhoods. We don’t see any danger here,” she says.

Locals agree. “Russians are our citizens and our friends,” says Emel Cakmak, the co-director of the Foreigners Culture and Solidarity Association, a cross-cultural group that helps foreign nationals integrate in the city. “We are living happily side by side,” she said.

A version of this article first appeared on RFE/RL