Poland–Uzbekistan relations

Poland–Uzbekistan relations
Map indicating locations of Poland and Uzbekistan

Poland
Uzbekistan

Poland–Uzbekistan relations are bilateral relations between Poland and Uzbekistan. The countries enjoy good relations, based on growing trade, and political and educational cooperation. Both nations are full members of the OSCE and United Nations.

History

Sacred Heart Cathedral, Tashkent, also known as the Polish Church

There are several historical similarities between Poland and Uzbekistan. Since the Late Middle Ages, both nations formed the preeminent states of their regions, i.e., East-Central Europe and Central Asia,[1][2][3][4] where cities flourished as learning (chiefly Kraków and Bukhara),[2][4] cultural and political centers, reflected in magnificent architecture, with some, such as Kraków, Toruń, Warsaw, Samarkand and Bukhara, now listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Both the Poles and Uzbeks endured several foreign invasions, including Russian,[3] and their states declined in the 18th century, to eventually lose their independence to Russia. Poland was divided by Russia, Austria and Prussia (later Germany) in the Partitions of Poland, whereas the Uzbek khanates were conquered by Russia.[3] Russian-controlled Uzbek territory was one of the places to which Poles were either deported as political prisoners from the Russian Partition of Poland or were sent after being conscripted to the Russian Army.[5] The Poles built the Sacred Heart Cathedral in Tashkent, also known as the Polish Church, now a cultural heritage site of the Uzbek capital.

During World War I, ethnic Polish conscripts and legionnaires from the Austrian and German armies were held by the Russians in a prisoner-of-war camp in Fergana.[6] They made contact and received help from the local Polish minority, however, many of the Polish prisoners died due to the harsh conditions and typhus epidemic.[6] After the war, Poland regained independence and then successfully repelled a Soviet invasion, however, the Uzbeks fell under Soviet rule. Polish POWs were released from Uzbekistan only after the Treaty of Riga in 1921.[7]

Polish War Cemetery in Gʻuzor

Following the joint German-Soviet invasion of Poland, which started World War II in 1939, the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic was one of the destinations for the deportations of Poles from Soviet-occupied eastern Poland.[8] After the Sikorski–Mayski agreement, a Polish diplomatic post was established in Tashkent in 1941, and then relocated to Samarkand in March 1942, leaving Władysław Bugajski as a representative of Poland in Tashkent.[9] In early 1942, the Polish Anders' Army along with thousands of civilians was relocated to the Uzbek and Kyrgyz SSRs, and Gʻuzor became the organizational center of the army.[10] The Poles suffered from epidemics and famine, so they opened temporary feeding centers, orphanages, clinics and small hospitals, yet 2,500 soldiers and many more civilians still died.[11][12][13] A remnant of this period are Polish military cemeteries located in 15 cities in Uzbekistan, including Chiroqchi, Gʻuzor, Jizzakh, Karmana, Kenimekh, Kitob, Margilan, Olmazor, Qarshi, Shahrisabz, Tashkent, Yakkabogʻ, Yangiyoʻl.[13] Since mid-1942, the Soviets thwarted Polish efforts to improve the situation, and carried out arrests of the staff of the Polish diplomatic posts, first Władysław Bugajski in Tashkent in May 1942, and then the staff of the post in Samarkand in July 1942, and then seized and closed the post.[12][14] In 1942, the Anders' Army with many civilians was evacuated to Iran. As of 1943, there were still over 25,000 Polish citizens in Uzbekistan, according to Soviet data.[15] After the war, over 32,000 Poles were repatriated from the Uzbek SSR to Poland in 1946–1948.[16]

Poland recognized Uzbekistan shortly after the Uzbek declaration of independence, and bilateral relations were established in 1992. Several agreements were signed in 1995, including a double tax avoidance agreement, a frienship and cooperation treaty and a cultural cooperation agreement.[17][18][19]

Modern relations

Embassy of Uzbekistan in Warsaw

In August 2021, during the 2021 Taliban offensive in Afghanistan, Uzbekistan helped Poland evacuate over 1,200 people, including Polish nationals, from Afghanistan.[20] In September 2021, Poland donated over 250,000 COVID-19 vaccines to Uzbekistan.[20]

In 2023, a Polish–Uzbekistani Historical Commission was established by the Sybir Memorial Museum in Białystok, Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk and National University of Uzbekistan in Tashkent to facilitate the research and popularization of the shared history of the two nations.[21]

Diplomatic missions

See also

References

  1. ^ Grant, R. G. (2017). 1001 Battles That Changed the Course of History. Chartwell Books. p. 214. ISBN 978-0-7858-3553-0.
  2. ^ a b Kort, Michael (2001). The Handbook of the New Eastern Europe. Brookfield, Connecticut. pp. 39–40.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  3. ^ a b c Minahan, James (2013). Miniature Empires: A Historical Dictionary of the Newly Independent States. Routledge. p. 341.
  4. ^ a b Ibbotson, Sophie; Lovell-Hoare, Max (2016). Uzbekistan. p. 15. ISBN 978-1-78477-017-4.
  5. ^ "Polish Cultural Centre". Świetlica Polska. 20 January 2018. Archived from the original on 22 March 2023. Retrieved 11 December 2023.
  6. ^ a b Sula, Dorota (2017). "Pomoc Polakom – jeńcom w Imperium Rosyjskim w okresie I wojny światowej". Łambinowicki rocznik muzealny (in Polish). 40. Opole: 94–95. ISSN 0137-5199.
  7. ^ Sula, p. 101
  8. ^ Ocaleni z "nieludzkiej ziemi" (in Polish). Łódź: Instytut Pamięci Narodowej. 2012. p. 28. ISBN 978-83-63695-00-2.
  9. ^ Ceranka, Paweł; Szczepanik, Krzysztof (2020). Urzędy konsularne Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej 1918–1945. Informator archiwalny (in Polish). Warszawa: Naczelna Dyrekcja Archiwów Państwowych, Ministerstwo Spraw Zagranicznych. p. 389. ISBN 978-83-65681-93-5.
  10. ^ Ocaleni z "nieludzkiej ziemi". p. 102.
  11. ^ Ocaleni z "nieludzkiej ziemi". p. 48.
  12. ^ a b Wróbel, Janusz (2003). Uchodźcy polscy ze Związku Sowieckiego 1942–1950 (in Polish). Łódź: Instytut Pamięci Narodowej. p. 28. ISBN 978-83-7629-522-0.
  13. ^ a b Ziółkowska, Ewa (2002). "Polskie groby w Uzbekistanie i Kazachstanie. W 60. rocznicę polskiego wychodźstwa z ZSRR". Wspólnota Polska (in Polish). No. 3–4 (116–117). pp. 64–65. ISSN 1429-8457.
  14. ^ Ceranka; Szczepanik, pp. 344–345, 389
  15. ^ Masiarz, Władysław (1997). "Przesiedlenie i repatriacja Polaków z Azji Środkowej w 1946 r.". Zesłaniec (in Polish). No. 2. Warszawa. p. 109.
  16. ^ Masiarz, p. 113
  17. ^ Umowa między Rządem Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej a Rządem Republiki Uzbekistanu w sprawie unikania podwójnego opodatkowania i zapobieganiu uchylaniu się od opodatkowania w zakresie podatków od dochodu i majątku, sporządzona w Warszawie dnia 11 stycznia 1995 r., Dz. U., 1995, vol. 116, No. 559
  18. ^ Traktat o przyjaźni i współpracy między Rzecząpospolitą Polską a Republiką Uzbekistanu, sporządzony w Warszawie dnia 11 stycznia 1995 r., Dz. U., 1996, vol. 26, No. 115
  19. ^ Umowa między Rządem Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej a Rządem Republiki Uzbekistanu o współpracy kulturalnej i naukowej, podpisana w Warszawie dnia 11 stycznia 1995 r., Dz. U., 1996, vol. 114, No. 543
  20. ^ a b "Przekazanie szczepionek z Polski dla Uzbekistanu". Portal Gov.pl (in Polish). 13 September 2021. Retrieved 11 December 2023.
  21. ^ "Powołanie Polsko-Uzbekistańskiej Komisji historycznej". Portal Gov.pl (in Polish). 29 May 2023. Retrieved 13 September 2024.
  22. ^ "Konsulat Republiki Uzbekistanu". Poznan.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 11 December 2023.