Russian and Turkish Cultures have Much in Common, Not Least in How They View the West and How the West has Worked to Keep Them in One Piece, Kerimoglu Says

Paul Goble
    Staunton, Dec. 29 – Russians and Turks are “remarkably close to one another in their historical memory, mentality, worldview and attitudes toward the West.”, Cemil Kerimoglu says. More than that, this similarity extends “into the trajectories of their histories” and the ways in which the West has responded to them.
    Both the Russian and the Ottoman empires “began as weak, inconsequential statelets” “on the margins of vast fragmented realms,” the Turkish blogger and commentator says; and their ascents to great power was “shaped by a fortuitous combination” of “their strategic geographic positions,” the acumen of their leaders and the attitude of the Western powers (radicaldose.com/turkey-as-mini-russsia/).
    But perhaps most striking is the similarity between the two in “the way their long drawn-out declines were accompanied by the unwillingness of Western powers to hasten their collapse,” Kerimoglu says. “Instead, Western nations often sought to delay or prevent their disintegration” something that allowed the Ottoman Empire two centuries ago and Russia since to survive.
Through “repeated cycles of decline, near-collapse, and (partial) revival, the trajectories of the Ottoman and Russian states have revealed a striking paradox,” the blogger says. “ Both empires owed their survival at critical junctures to the very Western powers they resented and competed against.”
Indeed, and this is the real irony in both cases, “the assistance they received enabled them to rebuild and prepare for future aggression.” But despite that, “both Russians and Turks persistently imagine the West as a malevolent force, eternally conspiring against them. This paradox is at the heart of their historical consciousness.”
According to Kerimoglu, “this belief manifests itself most vividly in the accusations of “colonialism” and “imperialism” thrown against the West that are so commonplace both in Russia and Turkey today. Such charges are, to put it mildly, ironic, given the brutal histories of imperial expansion, conquest, and suppression of other peoples that both nations share.”
In both Russia and Turkey,” he continues, “then, there is a deep disconnect between historical reality and the narratives that shape their national identity. While both peoples accuse the West of imperialist designs, their own histories are built upon imperial conquest and domination.”
Moreover, “although Western powers have, on numerous occasions, acted as their saviors, this reality is completely ignored and has been eclipsed by a deeply ingrained resentment of the West – a resentment that continues to shape their self-image and their relationship with the world today.”
The major difference between the two – and is “stark,” the blogger says – is that “despite sharing a similar imperial past and a history of aggressive expansion, Russia has yet to endure the same prolonged series of catastrophic defeats that reshaped Turkey. Russia has not (yet) faced its equivalent of Vienna in 1683 or Karlowitz in 1699.”  
    But Kerimoglu says, “Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 – and specifically the failed Siege of Kyiv – has the potential to become its Vienna 1683 moment.” Like Vienna for the Ottomans, Kyiv could prove a “turning point, a final, ill-fated thrust of imperial ambition that marks the beginning of irreversible decline.”
    Should that prove to be the case, the blogger suggests, “it would be a huge win for humanity if Russians, through repeated defeats and humiliations, turn to something similar to present-day Turks in the future, because, at the end of the day, petty merchants are much preferable to genocidal maniacs.”