Polonezköy (Turkish for “Polish village”) is a settlement near Istanbul, also known as Adampol. It was founded by Polish emigrants in the 19th century. The office of mayor there is traditionally held by a person of Polish descent.
In 1841, Michał Czajkowski, a Polish independence activist, arrived in Turkey. His native country, at the time, did not exist on the maps of Europe. In the 18th century, the three partitioners: Russia, Prussia and Austria annexed Polish lands by force and held Polish society captive for 123 years. Czajkowski was a representative of the “Hotel Lambert” political camp, which was established in exile after the Poles lost the anti-Russian independence uprising – the November Uprising (1830-1831).
He came to Turkey to oppose Russian influence there. This was because he noticed that there were many participants in the November Uprising living in this country, who had fled to the Bosporus for fear of Russian persecution. Prince Adam Czartoryski, leader of the “Hotel Lambert” political camp, therefore instructed him to buy land and create a settlement where Polish patriots could live. On 19 March 1842, the first cottage in the village was consecrated and named Adampol in honour of Prince Czartoryski.
Other nations, related to the Poles, who were persecuted by the Russians, also found shelter in the settlement. There was a Polish school there and the language spoken in the village was mainly Polish.
After Poland regained its independence in 1918, some of Adampol’s inhabitants returned to their free homeland. In 1937, it was even visited by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the ‘father of the Turks’ – the first president and one of the founders of the Turkish Republic.
Not easy times for Adampol occurred during the Second World War unleashed by Germany and the Soviet Union. Although Turkey became a neutral state, its authorities did not want to irritate the German Nazis, so they introduced certain restrictions for Polish immigrants living in Turkey. Among other things, Poles were banned from celebrating the 3rd of May Constitution Day and Polish banners were requisitioned. After the end of the Second World War, Adampol’s contacts with its homeland weakened considerably, as communist Poland was not interested in maintaining ties with the Polish countryside in Turkey.
Today, Adampol is a kind of oasis of Old Polish culture. At present, people of Polish origin are in a minority there making up one third of the population. They are descendants of people who fought and risked their lives for Polish independence. In the summer, the town hosts a festival of Polish culture.