Behind Turkey's carefully calibrated diplomatic balancing act with Moscow lies a deep, visceral contempt for Russians that runs "at the DNA level," according to former Ukrainian Ambassador Serhiy Korsunsky, who spent years observing it firsthand.
The diplomat shared his unvarnished assessment during a broadcast with Yuriy Romanenko on March 5, as "Hvylya" reported.
"Deep down, deep at the DNA level, they hate Russia, they hate Russians, and they deeply despise them, because they see them in Antalya," Korsunsky said, adding that "there isn't a single hotel in Turkey whose manager hasn't told me that they pray for Ukrainian tourists - who are reasonable, calm, family-oriented." The stories about Russian guests, by contrast, followed an identical pattern at every property: "theft, alcohol, falling from the fifth floor of these hotels, ordering room service at midnight after a sauna with binge drinking."
This personal distaste, however, never translates into policy. Korsunsky explained that Turkey's geopolitical position prevents Ankara from pushing confrontation with Russia "to the point of escalation." The Turks remember 17 lost wars against Russia but prefer acting through indirect means - supporting Azerbaijan in the Karabakh conflict, backing Ukraine's NATO aspirations, and quietly working to prevent the Black Sea from becoming "a Russian sea."
The diplomat also recalled how Russia had for decades fueled Kurdish insurgency against Turkey. Yevgeny Primakov personally participated in arming Kurdish formations in the mountains on the Iraqi border, Korsunskyy said. "They were born with a Kalashnikov and died with a Kalashnikov. Fighting against the accursed NATO in the form of Turkey - the Russians had been doing this since God knows when." The Turks, he said, understand all of this perfectly.
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