Abstract <p>The role of the ethnoconfessional factor in Russia–Turkey relations is examined. The concepts of the Russian and Turkic worlds as geopolitical projects of Russia and Turkey in the Eurasian space within the framework of the methodology of critical and classical geopolitics are considered. The subject of the study is the civilizational question as one of the instruments of competition and cooperation between Russia and Turkey in the Eurasian space. The research methodology is represented by systemic, civilizational, geopolitical, and instrumental approaches. The following Turkish and Russian mechanisms for implementing ethnoconfessional policies in the process of competition for geopolitical space are highlighted: constructing a positive image of a “brotherly people”; popularizing a shared history, culture, religion, language, and national heroes; the formation of pro-Russian and pro-Turkish national elites; the use of the ethnonational factor during domestic political crises of the competitor. This was evident both in the imperial period and in the modern stage of state development and was expressed, on the one hand, for example, in Turkey’s support for the highlanders during the Caucasian War and separatists during the Chechen wars, and on the other, in Russia’s liberation of the Orthodox peoples of the Balkans and the Caucasus from Ottoman rule, as well as in Russia’s play on the Kurdish issue, which is important to Turkey. Turkey is more actively shaping a negative image of Russia (tsarist, Soviet, and modern) in the Eurasian space than Russia is forming a negative image of Turkey, as evidenced by various state initiatives within the framework of memory policy. Furthermore, the personal factor of the current President of the Republic of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, plays a significant role in promoting the concept of a Turkic World, actively positioning himself as a key figure in the consolidation of the Turkic World.</p>