MICHAŁ SOKOLNICKI’S „ANKARA DIARY” / MICHAL SOKOLNICKI’NIN “ANKARA GÜNLÜĞÜ

Michał Sokolnicki was a Polish historian and diplomat, Polish Ambassador to Turkey during the period 1936–1945 (since the occupation of Poland – a representative of the Polish government-in-exile), and a respected personality in the diplomatic circles. After the conclusion of World War II, he had refused to return to the Communist Poland, choosing instead to lecture at the UA. He passed away in Ankara and is buried at the Cebeci Cemetery. His Ankara Diaryprovides yet another proof of historically good relationship between Turkey and Poland. Although Ankara had been trying to maintain neutrality from the very onset of the war, it nevertheless supported Ambassador Sokolnicki in fulfilling several important tasks (including the secret shipment of Polish refugees and Polish gold reserves via its territory). Moreover, the Turkish government intervened in Moscow on behalf of Polish internees. These events are all summarized below in an article based on the Ankara Diary. Sometimes details may be important as the whole, for example, one of the footnotes contains information that may seem interesting – namely the record of Minister Saracoglu’s parliamentary speech on December 12, 1923. In this speech, Minister mentions that the chef de protocol „once” asked about the absent Polish deputy, to diplomatically express that Turkey did not recognize the partitions of Poland, when the diplomatic corps was received at the Sultan’s court. This mention should be regarded as the first written record of this story, whose accuracy is questioned by a large number of historians as no record of such a habit from the early nineteenth century has been found. Michal Sokolnicki, Polonyalı bir tarihçi ve diplomat, 1936–1945 arasında Polonya’nın Türkiye Büyükelçisi (Polonya’nın işgalinden itibaren de Polonya Sürgün Hükümeti’nin temsilcisi) ve diplomatik çevrelerde sayılan bir kişilikti. II. Dünya Savaşı’nın bitişinin ardından Komünist Polonya’ya dönmeyi reddedip bunun yerine A.Ü.’de hoca olmayı seçmişti. Ankara’da öldü ve Cebeci Asri Mezarlığı’na gömüldü. Ankara Günlüğü, Türkiye ve Polonya arasında tarihsel olarak iyi ilişkilerin yeni bir kanıtını ortaya koymaktadır. Ankara, savaşın ta en başından itibaren tarafsızlığını koruma uğraşında olsa da, (Polonyalı mültecilerin ve Polonya altın rezervinin toprakları üzerinden gizli sevkiyatı da dâhil olmak üzere) birçok önemli görevin gerçekleştirilmesinde Büyükelçi Sokolnicki’ye destek olmuştur. Ayrıca Türk hükümeti, Moskova’da Polonyalı esirl