Polish–Turkish relations are the foreign relations between Poland and Turkey. Both countries are full members of NATO, OECD, OSCE, the Union for the Mediterranean, the Council of Europe and the World Trade Organisation. Poland is a member of the European Union, Turkey is not a member.
History of the diplomatic relations between the two nations dates back to the 15th century when the Ottoman Empire and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth officially established them. Poland and Turkey share many similarities in their cultural history and cuisine and generally relations between the two nations are good.
History
Polish-Turkish relations have been historically close yet complex. Historically, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth had a direct border with the Ottoman Empire, both states had a tumultuous history being in open and consistent warfare between one another for centuries, particularly in the southeastern borderlands of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth around Moldavia, modern-day Ukraine, Romania and Crimea. Troops from the Kingdom of Poland were part of a large European coalition that tried to repel the Ottoman invasion of Europe at the Battle of Nicopolis in 1396. Warfare between both states began in 1443 with the Crusade of Varna. Further wars were fought in 1485–1503, 1620-1621, 1633–1634, 1672–1676, and 1683–1699, and the Poles and Turks also clashed in the Moldavian Magnate Wars. During the wars, sections of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth fell under the direct administration of the Ottoman Empire under the Podolia Eyalet or Silistra Eyalet for some time. The victory of Polish-led forces at the Battle of Vienna in 1683 marked the end of Ottoman advances into Europe.
Diplomatic relations between the Ottoman Empire and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth were established in the 15th century. In 1414, Ottoman Sultan Mehmed I Çelebi received the first Polish diplomatic delegation at his court in Bursa, at the time the capital of the Ottoman Empire.
Turkish support for the Polish Bar Confederation against Russia sparked the Russo-Turkish War of 1768–1774. Following the Partitions of Poland, the Ottoman Empire and Qajar Iran were the only major countries in the world that did not recognise the final partition of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. An anecdote exists recounting the exchange between the chef de protocol and his aide of the Ottoman Empire which is widely recounted today in Poland. According to the tale, whenever the diplomatic corps was received by the Ottoman sultan, on the sight of the empty chair of the Polish deputy, the Ottoman chef de protocol would ostentatiously ask: “Where is the deputy from Lehistan?”. On each occasion he would receive the same reply from his aide: ‘Your Excellency, the deputy of Lehistan could not make it because of vital impediments’ to the annoyance of the diplomats from the partitioning states. The first written record of this story comes from the Polish ambassador to Turkey in the years 1936 – 45, Michał Sokolnicki (1880 – 1967). He heard it from a Turkish officer and statesman, Ali Fuat Cebesoy (1880 – 1968), who was acquainted with the Istanbul Polish community. Cebesoy claimed that this symbolic exchange continued until the end of the sultanate and he witnessed it in person as a young officer during the reign of Sultan Abdülhamid II (r. 1876 – 1909)
In the 19th century, many Polish veterans of the November Uprising, January Uprising, and Crimean War arrived in Turkey. Polish officers, such as Michał Czajkowski, served in the Ottoman Army. Polish General Marian Langiewicz spent the last years of his life in Turkey, fought in the Ottoman Army, and died in Istanbul, where he is buried at the Haydarpaşa Cemetery. Polish national poet Adam Mickiewicz spent the last months of his life in Istanbul and died there. The house where he lived was later transformed into the Adam Mickiewicz Museum. In 1877, the Polish Legion in Turkey was formed and it fought alongside Turks in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878.
The village of Polonezköy (Adampol), which lies on the Anatolian side of Istanbul, was first settled in 1842 by Polish veterans of the November Uprising. Further Polish settlers arrived in the 19th and 20th centuries. As of 2009, there is still a Polish minority in the village.
The alliance between Poland and Turkey remained strong into the 20th century. Poland was the first country in Europe to recognize the Turkish Republic declared by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in 1923.