Since the beginning of the SVO, about half a million Russians have settled in Turkey and massively bought almost all the real estate in the province of Antalya, which is why prices for renting and purchasing housing have risen.
Ukrainian Ambassador to Turkey Vasily Bodnar stated this on Radio NV, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“They have been fleeing Russia since February 24th. As of today, according to various sources, about half a million Russian citizens have already registered for temporary residence in Turkey. These are not women with children, like ours, there are forty (thousand) of us here now, but there are half a million of them, about ten times more. They have been running for a long time, the fact that they may have taken them out before their families, and now they are catching up with male persons - this confirms that the policy of mobilization will not lead to anything good in Russia, for her own sake, this is to our benefit. What they do is also an indicator of weakness.
Half a million Russians, and if there are a million of them, it will be a threat to Turkey’s national security. Ordinary Turkish citizens are already complaining about this number of Russians, because in the Antalya region alone, housing prices have increased by about 20-30%. This is also observed in most places on the coast, where property, houses, apartments, etc., were bought en masse, or rent, and rent also increased. It used to be affordable for an ordinary Turkish citizen, but now it’s not, because inflation has caught up and prices have risen.
Plus, business groups of Russians are also starting to form here, this also creates a certain pressure on Turkish business. The only thing is that the country is big, and it doesn’t feel like it does, for example, in Georgia,” Bodnar said.
He emphasized that the supposedly “zetniks” who have come in large numbers are trying to organize mass rallies, which they are suppressing with the help of lawyers and political influence.
“Since the 24th, not only liberals or those running away from the war came here. Here, first of all, those who had such an opportunity, who had certain means, and who were worried that their business had not disappeared, fled. And they, they, as a rule, moved or reorganized them here. According to existing data, more than 600 companies with Russian capital and Russian owners were created in Turkey. This ranges from real estate to resales. This is also a circumvention of sanctions, and we draw the attention of our international colleagues to this. In addition, these “zetniks” have long wanted to hold even mass events. Thanks to the efforts of lawyers, certain political influences, work in the regions, plus our community, we did not allow mass events to be held on May 9.
In fact, there are quite a lot of them here, they are invisible, from the point of view of self-organization, because they are afraid of Ukrainians, they are afraid that they will be perceived negatively in Turkish society,” wrote the Khokhlo ambassador.