Recently, President Ilham Alijew of Azerbaijan visited with Polish president Aleksander Kwasniewski. Poland is interested in projects Azerbaijan has presented to the EU, particularly those concerning shipment of crude oil and gas from the Caspian Sea to Europe. On Wednesday, President Alijew met with government officials, held talks with President Kwasniewski and Prime Minister Marek Belka, attended a lunch held in his honor at the President’s Palace, and along with Warsaw’s President Lech Kaczynski, unveiled a memorial to all Azerbaijan officers who fought for Poland.
Standing in Park Wolnosci (Independence Park) next to the Warsaw Uprising Museum, the memorial’s text, written in Polish, Azerbaijani and English, is a tribute to Azerbaijani soldiers of the Polish military and Polish Resistance Army who died between 1939 and 1945 fighting for the Republic of Poland alongside resistance fighters during the Warsaw Uprising and on other fronts in the Second World War.
The memorial has already raised some concern among specialists and those who took part in the uprising. Many do not recall any Azerbaijani resistance fighters, and even go as far as to mention that the Azerbaijan troops fought with the Germans against Poles.
Jan Oldakowski, director of the Warsaw Uprising Museum, says that documentation proves two Azerbaijani citizens indeed fought for the Polish resistance – one whose name is known and one unknown.
Andrzej Przewoznik, responsible for arranging the memorial, explains that the memorial is dedicated to those 132 soldiers from Azerbaijan who came to Poland to serve in the Polish military before the war and later joined the resistance. “Of course we are not honoring anyone who fought against Poland. There were at least two Azerbaijani resistance fighters. Even if there had only been one, he still deserves recognition.”
|