Azerbaijan–Poland relations

Foreign relations exist between Azerbaijan and Poland. The embassy of Poland opened in Azerbaijan on August 23, 2001, and the Azerbaijani Embassy in Poland on August 30, 2004.[1] Both countries are full members of the Council of Europe and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

Azerbaijan–Poland relations
Map indicating locations of Azerbaijan and Poland

Azerbaijan
Poland
Diplomatic mission
Embassy of Azerbaijan, WarsawEmbassy of Poland, Baku
Envoy
Azerbaijan Ambassador to Poland Nargiz GurbanovaPolish Ambassador to Azerbaijan Rafał Poborski

At present over a thousand of self-identified Poles in Azerbaijan.[2]

Historical relations

Polish Ledinski and Azerbaijani Alimardan Topchubashov founded a special group together in the Duma to struggle for the autonomy of Poland and Azerbaijan. When Mammed Amin Rasulzade founded Azerbaijan Democratic Republic in 1918, which was the first secular and democratic republic in the Muslim world, the first chief of staff of the national army became Polish general Maciej Sulkiewicz.[3] It is also notable that Rasulzade went to Poland in 1938 and he met his second wife Wanda who was a niece of Polish statesman Józef Piłsudski.[4] During the Katyn massacre, Hamid Mahammadzadeh, an ethnic Azeri member of the Polish Officer Corps, was among 22,000 Polish nationals shot down by the NKVD, the Soviet secret police, in 1940.[5]

Recent political relations
Lech Kaczyński and Ilham Aliyev, 2008.

Poland recognized Azerbaijan's independence on December 27, 1991. Though intensive diplomatic contacts developed only few years later when Heydar Aliyev visited Poland in August 1997 and then Polish President Aleksander Kwaśniewski visited to Azerbaijan in October 1999. Poland backed Azerbaijan for membership in both the Council of Europe and the World Trade Organization and declared its interest in participating in various energy projects.[6] Poland supports Azerbaijan's bid to join the European Union and NATO.[7] and through the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict against Armenia, Poland supported Azerbaijan although it is sporadic due to later recognition of Armenian genocide by Poland in which Azerbaijan protested against.[8][9][10] Poland is able to have a friendly relations with Armenia, but close relations with Azerbaijan and Polish Government's recent decision for its citizens to ask permission from Azerbaijan before visiting the Nagorno-Karabakh region resulted in the Polish government's decision being described as "anti-Armenian" by Armenian nationalist groups and youth organizations.[11]

Poland's then President Lech Kaczyński visited Azerbaijan in 2007, and on February 26, 2008 President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev paid a visit to Poland. A joint statement of both was signed during the visit. The statement noted that Poland supports the peaceful settlement of the conflict in the frames of sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability of borders, and in the framework of the Charter of the United Nations. Kaczyński was decorated with Order of Heydar Aliyev for his special services in the development of the relations at his fifth visit.[12]

Economic relations
Stamp of Azerbaijan, 2012

In 2008, for the first time in the history of its economic relations Azerbaijan gained trade surplus, and turnover of goods between the two countries reached $166.9 million.[13] "Sarmatiya" company has been established to prepare technical details of Baku-Odesa-Brody-Płock-Gdańsk pipeline which seemed to be a legend for many years. It shows the increasing role of Azerbaijan in ensuring energy security of Poland.[14]

Cultural relations

In the middle of the 19th century the Azerbaijani heroic epos Koroghlu was translated by Aleksander Chodźko and published in English and French. Warsaw remains as the last place Abbasgulu Bakikhanov visited before his retiring. He wrote a whole number of poems and his famous "Asrar al-Malakut" (The Secrets of Heavens in the Arabic language) in Warsaw.[15]

Ismayil Gutgashinli's "Rashid bey and Saadat khanum", which is notable for being the first Azerbaijani realistic prose, was published first in Poland in 1835.

Polish architects Józef Gosławski and Józef Płoszko depicted on Azerbaijani postal stamps from 2016

Józef Gosławski, Józef Płoszko, Eugeniusz Skibiński and Kazimierz Skórewicz are notable for being the architects of a number of buildings in Azerbaijan. Ismailiyya Palace, Palace of Happiness, Building of Baku City Executive Power, Rylsky brothers' house, Agabala Guliyev's House, Tagiyev's Passage and present-day National Museum of History of Azerbaijan, Baku Puppet Theatre, Institute of Manuscripts and History Museum of the Prosecutor's Office are among them.[16][17]

Polish Security Printing Works also supported Chopin Year 2010 and Milosz Year 2011 in Azerbaijan. The Center for Polish Language and Culture at the Baku Slavic University was opened on November 9, 2006. Polish engineer Paweł Potocki presented the first project of oil extraction in the Caspian shelf and ensured its fulfillment.[18]

Resident diplomatic missions
  • Azerbaijan has an embassy in Warsaw.
  • Poland has an embassy in Baku.
  • Embassy of Azerbaijan in Warsaw
    Embassy of Azerbaijan in Warsaw
  • Embassy of Poland in Baku
    Embassy of Poland in Baku

See also

References
  1. MFA - general look on relations between Azerbaijan and Poland (in Azeri language)
  2. Polish diaspora
  3. Tadeusz Swietochowski. Russia and Azerbaijan: A Borderland in Transition. Columbia University Press, 1995. ISBN 0-231-07068-3, ISBN 978-0-231-07068-3 and Reinhard Schulze. A Modern History of the Islamic World. I.B.Tauris, 2000. ISBN 1-86064-822-3, ISBN 978-1-86064-822-9.
  4. Rais Rasulzade, grandson. "Mammad Amin Rasulzade, Founding Father of the First Republic". Azerbaijan International. ISSN 1075-086X.
  5. Nurani, Nair Aliyev. Katyn Tragedy - Azerbaijani Page Archived 2014-09-25 at the Wayback Machine. Echo. 26 October 2013.
  6. Embassy of Republic of Poland in Baku Official Site Archived October 7, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  7. The Messenger, Georgia - Oct 22, 2004
  8. MFA official site on 1996 Lisbon Summit of OSCE Archived July 6, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  9. "Alien Imperial Forces Entered Nagorno-Karabakh" –Polish President - article
  10. YAP article Archived September 27, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  11. Armenian youth organizations condemn Polish Government decision - Times.am
  12. "Polish President Lech Kaczynski awarded Heydar Aliyev order" Caspian Energy news Archived March 30, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  13. "Dragon to breathe fire on all fronts - the National". Archived from the original on 2012-10-11. Retrieved 2011-06-30.
  14. ABC news on "Sarmatiya" Archived March 26, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  15. Azeri Literature Archived September 28, 2007, at the Wayback Machine (in Russian). Fundamental Electronic Library The Russian Literature and Folklore. Retrieved 29 August 2006
  16. Józef Plośko Archived October 3, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  17. "Kazimierz Skórewicz". In memoriam - pamięci architektów polskich (in Polish). Retrieved 11 March 2023.
  18. "Concise History of Azerbaijan Oil by Miryusif Mirbabayev" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2021-05-04. Retrieved 2011-06-30.
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