Against the backdrop of the disagreements between Moscow and Ankara over Idlib and Latakia, and the Russian Foreign Ministry’s statement condemning Turkey’s actions in the Aegean Sea, anti-Turkish TV programs are once again appearing on Russian television. In particular, a significant part of the recent prime time program «Vremya Pokazhet» on ORT was dedicated to the «Turkish expansion in Adjaria», which allegedly brings with it its «Islamization».
The propagandists of the Empire, which has seized by military means 25% of the internationally recognized territory of Georgia, boldly spoke about the threat to the security, independence and territorial integrity of this country, not by tanks, but by Turkish investments in the resort of Adjara, such as the construction of hotels, the opening of shops and restaurants, and most importantly — new mosques. Such shameless audacity is a gift not given to everyone, but the Kremlin’s agitprop workers seem to possess it in abundance.
In particular, they speculate that according to the Treaty of Kars, Turkey once acted as a guarantor for the preservation of Adjara as a part of Georgia with autonomy rights. The obvious thought that Georgia looks favorably on Turkish investments in this region, and therefore this thought did not occur to them or was not voiced. After all, it is clear that the attitude towards Russia in this country could have been similar if it had not rejected Abkhazia and South Ossetia, but had acted as a guarantor of their preservation as autonomous territories within Georgia.
The construction of mosques and the availability of food labeled «halal» is another well-known scare tactic of the Kremlin’s agitprop, which presents it as a threat of «Islamization» wherever it occurs, whether in Western Europe, where Muslims are migrants, or in Adjara, where Georgian Muslims live at home and make up 30% of the population. By the way, the lie told in the report about former Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili’s decision to grant citizenship to alleged Turks, when in fact it was ethnic Georgian Muslims who had emigrated to Turkey and whom he was trying to bring back to their historical homeland, is telling. As can be seen from this disclaimer, Russian propagandists do not consider those who have embraced Islam from «Orthodox peoples» as part of them, labeling them «Turks» or «Poturchenets,» just as Orthodox propaganda in the Balkans has done for centuries with Muslim Slavs.
However, all these propaganda scare tactics were easily countered by a question posed to the leading expert, a Russian by the way: «What prevents Russia from investing in Abkhazia and South Ossetia as Turkey is doing in Adjara,» especially since, unlike Turkey, they are under its complete control. The host, stunned by such a simple question, began to mutter that «we are developing them too, despite the sanctions against us».
Well, anyone can compare the results of this development in Adjara with Turkish investments and Abkhazia and South Ossetia with Russian tanks.