If you asked me, “What did you think about Moscow?” I would say it is a bit from the past. The city has a glory inherited from the past.

I do not know if this is about perceptual selectivity. I was in Moscow for one day at the beginning of this week. I saw references to Korea all around me. So I wanted to add another element to the Korea-Turkey comparison: The Koreans adhere strictly to Deng Xiaoping’s advice, “hide your brightness, bide your time,” not caring that he was Chinese and a communist. They work, not just talk. We, however, do not have time to take action as we are busy with telling people what we are planning to do. They identify which sector will be the coinage machine of the future and design huge programs accordingly. We not only just talk, but make people suspicious about our talking so much. Let me put off the incentive system issue and share with you my impressions of Moscow. If you are interested, please read on.

When I landed at the airport in Moscow on Tuesday, it was snowing lightly. Spring had not come yet. Do you remember my “civilization or hardship area” test? According to this, Moscow is within the area of civilization. As soon as I turned my on Blackberry at the airport, it started to download smoothly. Second, number of women on the streets was greater than that of men. They all walked quickly and with determined steps. There is no need to talk about the subway system. And the sidewalks were definitely designed to make sure that people would be able walk easily, not in order to transfer funds to party supporters. The streets are the mark of a civilized country, and I definitely was in one.

I learned later, but I should have gotten suspicious when I first saw the bathroom at the hotel. The toilet had a heated seat and was spraying water inside. I had seen one like this in Seoul a few weeks earlier. I later learned that I was staying in a hotel that was run by a Korean company. Korean companies not only run but build hotels in Moscow. The biggest ads I saw were of Korean companies, including Samsung and Hyundai. The brand of the refrigerator in my room was Daewoo. What else should I say? I did not see ads of Turkish companies such as Arçelik or Beko of the same size. I see that the Koreans are deeply influential all around our geography today. It appears, when I was in Seoul, that I underestimated the argument, “now is the time to go buy companies abroad.” I will be more cautious from now on. This was my first impression of Moscow.

And the second one: If you asked me, “What did you think of Moscow?” I would say that it is left over from the past. The people looked like they were trying to manage the large temples that are the remains of a deeply-rooted past empire, without knowing what to do exactly. That was my impression anyway. The city has a glory inherited from the past. Part of the buildings are old, they need minor restoration. It was like time had not passed those buildings. The interiors of those buildings were just like the exteriors.

Third, I thought that Moscow was a bit messy and indecisive. It appears that the city is at the end of one era, but has not yet shifted to a new “thing.” It is in a way stuck in a transition period. Just like Turkey. We are trying to make it from a middle- to high-income country. We also look like we are trapped in a timeline, a transition period that seems to be never ending. In traffic in Moscow, it is impossible to know what the car next to you or ahead of you will do in the next half second. Just like in Turkey. I saw that people wait for instructions instead of taking the initiative. Just like the people of Turkey.

Moscow looks a lot like Turkey. I did not feel like a loser there as I did in Seoul. In Moscow, people looked as if they were trying to manage the temples of an ancient civilization without knowing what to do exactly. I found myself wondering, “Will Russia someday become a boring country, as are high-income countries?”, just as I occasionally I think about Turkey. At the end of the day, I liked Moscow.

This commentary was published in Radikal daily on 06.04.2012