MICHAL SOKOLNICKI’NİN “ANKARA GÜNLÜĞÜ”
MICHAŁ SOKOLNICKI’S „ANKARA DIARY”

Summary/Abstract: 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-inexile), 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 Diary provides 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.

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