Polish tourist complained about the “capture” of the Turkish city by the Russians

A resident of Poland named Malgorzata, having traveled to the Alanya region – Mahmutlar, dubbed it “little Moscow”. The woman complained that everyone at the bazaar spoke Russian, she heard everywhere “girl”, “hello” and other words that she did not understand at all. Malgorzata shared that she tried to convince others in English that she was not from Russia, but they did not believe her. The tourist did not understand the inscriptions in Cyrillic. The atmosphere of Mahmutlar, saturated with everything Russian, terribly angered the Polish tourist. She doubted whether it would be possible to keep the “Turkishness” on the coast of the republic at all, or whether tourists would fly here on vacation in the near future, as “to the Russian Empire”.

Tatyana, a resident of Mahmutlar, agreed to comment on the article. She has been living in the area for five years and works in real estate. As our interlocutor says, this is the most profitable area now. For many years she went to Alanya to rest, and then decided to finally settle here.

“Not only many Russians live in Mahmutlar, but also Ukrainians, Azerbaijanis, Tatars, Kazakhs, who also speak pure Russian,” says Tatiana. – Again, the Turks have learned Russian for many years of work in the tourism sector. Russian speech really sounds everywhere here. To be honest, I don’t understand, what does the “Russian Empire” mentioned by the polka have to do with it? Interestingly, this lady was not embarrassed that Ukrainian flags were hung everywhere in Mahmutlar. This was done by the Ukrainians who came here, and there are many of them. While the Russian “tricolors” are practically invisible.

Tatiana is surprised that the Polish tourist “experienced a culture shock.”

– Where does she get culture at all if she doesn’t like signboards in Cyrillic? Is it cultural for her what is written in English, Turkish or Polish?

Do Russians and Ukrainians have disagreements?

– Of course, there are, but everyone is trying to control themselves, since deportation threatens for an open conflict.

How much has rent prices risen over the past two years?

– Almost 5 times. For example, last year I rented an apartment for 3,000 liras (10,650 rubles), and now the rent costs 500 euros (45,900 rubles).

In many respects, our other interlocutor, Vladlena, also agrees with Tatyana.

“There are exactly as many Russians living in Mahmutlar as there are other nationalities,” says Vladlena. – But there are really a lot of Russian-speaking people here. The fact that a Polish tourist is annoyed by Russian speech is her personal problems. We live here quite amicably, there are some moments, but in general, everything is resolved peacefully. If this lady is so annoyed by Cyrillic inscriptions and Russian words, maybe she should then rest within Poland? Russian people are tolerant. We are used to living side by side with people of different nationalities. There is a mutual enrichment of cultures. Therefore, we are so comfortable in Turkish Mahmutlar.

Pensioners Yevgeny and Natalya rented out their apartment in the Moscow district of Belyaevo and have been living in Mahmutlar for four years now.

“Małgorzata’s story is biased, saturated with malice and hatred for everything Russian, just like Poland’s aggressive foreign policy,” Yevhen believes. – Russophobia is in the blood of the Poles, the roots of this “dislike” go deep into history. Take at least three wars between the Russian kingdom and the Commonwealth in the 17th century. And now Poland is fighting for leadership in Europe. Should we be surprised at the reaction of a Polish tourist to Russian speech?

Eugene says that often Maxmutlar is called a “Russian city”.

“Although we have a complete international here. For example, our best friends are Kazakhs who came from Astana. Often a married couple from Azerbaijan comes to visit. We used to go fishing on the river with a Ukrainian from Poltava, but with the start of a special operation in Ukraine, he began to avoid me. And I don’t impose. All “come in large numbers” speak Russian without an accent. USSR in miniature. In transport, advertising can be in Russian. Even a woman in a veil can call a child in Russian.

Eugene says that he and his wife chose Mahmutlar to live because of the climate, good ecology, abundance of fruits and vegetables.

– In the north, the area is surrounded by mountains, in the south – by the Mediterranean Sea. The length of the beaches is about 5 kilometers. In winter, the population of Mahmutlar is about 50 thousand people, in summer – all 200 thousand. In the hottest months, July and August, we leave for a dacha near Moscow. And daughters with their families go to our apartment in Mahmutlar. And in winter it is very comfortable here, the temperature is +14…+16 degrees. If you see someone swimming, be sure that it is one of ours. The Turks will never climb into the water, the temperature of which does not exceed +12.

As our interlocutor says, someone does not like the local pebble beach. Somewhere there are boulders and stone slabs. Every year, sand is brought to the coastal strip before the holiday season, but during the winter it is washed away by storms.

– We buy products mainly in the supermarket, the prices are comparable to Moscow or even slightly lower. A loaf of bread can be found for 5 liras (17.7 rubles), the most budget pack of milk costs 17 liras (60 rubles), a 200-gram pack of butter – 40 liras (142 rubles), and a bottle of vegetable oil costs about the same. For a pack of pasta, you have to pay 13 lira (46 rubles), for a pack of sugar – 24 lira (85 rubles). We buy vegetables, fruits and fish at the markets, which take place here on Tuesdays and Saturdays. In general, we are comfortable in Mahmutlar.

But Vadim, after two years in the Russified Mahmutlar, went back to his place in Yekaterinburg.

– Stupid from the heat, I realized that +42 in the shade is not for me. Do not believe it, a year has passed, I began to dream of snow. I’m also a meat eater. If I don’t eat a piece of meat a day, I feel “out of my element.” Here only chicken and turkey are budget. And the meat is very expensive. For a kilogram of beef, you have to pay 350 lira (1242 rubles). A kilogram of lamb costs 240 lira (852 rubles), but I don’t like it. All the time I wanted fresh pork shish kebab and a real servelat. In general, I realized that Türkiye is not my country. Although, yes, there is no language barrier in Mahmutlar. A lot of people, even Turks, speak Russian. I know English, but I was interested, I also learned Turkish. Unlike the Polish tourist with her revelations for the Onet.pl web portal, no one in the Mahmutlar region was afraid that the Russians would bring their mentality, their habits here. Locals understood that new tastes and styles are very entertaining. I love learning Cyrillic. When communicating, friendly relations are established, and this is difficult to overestimate.