Ayfer Alptekin
The Partıtıons Of Poland Durıng The 18th Century And The Rejectıon Of The Ottoman Empıre [View PDF]
ABSTRACT
The year 2014 marks the 600th anniversary of the establishment of the Turkish-Polish diplomatic relations. The 600-year-old relations is not only an exceptional phenomenon for political history between Turkey (in time evaluating from the Turkish Principality to the Ottoman State, then to the Ottoman Empire) and Poland (similarly, from the Piast Kingdom to the Polish Lithuanian Kingdom, then to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth), but also for the whole Europe as well. On the territories once was ruling the Ottoman Empire, today almost thirty independent states are established. Naturally, the historical, cultural and commercial relations of people living on those territories were inextricably entangled. Consequently, during long period of history Turks and Poles beside their civil relations, faced each other in military conflicts exogenously and endogenously. However, throughout history Turkish-Polish relations have based on strong bonds of ‘friendship’ and common vision of ‘solidarity’ in difficult times. Furthermore, the Ottoman Empire never recognized the partitions of Poland. I stick to the label ‘friendship’. Is it merely friendship, or balance of power or some other qualities in this relationship? This article is an attempt to offer a theoretical approach to these questions. I will argue these issues from the realist political persperctive. What is the political realism? Political realism having competitive and conflictual side, considers the principal actors in the international arena to be states, which are primarily concerned with their own security, pursue their own national interests, and struggle for power.
Keywords: The partitions of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Ottoman Empire, the friendship, the political realism, the balance of power