ANKARA
Turkey's president has expressed hope that the 600th anniversary of Polish-Turkish relations will be a role model of peace and stability.
President Abdullah Gul and Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski attended the closing session of a symposium on the occasion of the 600th anniversary of the founding of Polish-Turkish diplomatic relations in Turkey's capital, Ankara.
"Turkish-Polish relations have always been strong and are still continuing very strongly," he said. "We will inaugurate an exhibition at Istanbul's Sakip Sabanci Museum to build better awareness of our relations."
Gul said Komorowski and himself had been through all the dimensions of Turkish-Polish relations during their talks.
"We are working in close cooperation on various fields and our relations with Poland will have multiple layers in the coming years... Turkey wants to double its $5 billion trade volume with Poland," he added.
The Turkish president also expressed gratitude to Poland for supporting Turkey's EU membership process.
"Turkey supported Poland 15 years ago when Poland was to enter NATO," stated President Komorowski. "Now we support Turkey’s EU membership process. We would not want our roads to go separate ways."
Komorowski recollected important historical personas of Poland that are present in Turkey’s history.
“We have had Poles in Turkish history, who have played important roles, for example Hurrem, known in Poland as Roksolana, the wife of Sultan Suleyman or Ibrahim Bey, known as Joachim Strasz, the mentor of Hurrem’s son and successor, Selim,” said Komorowski.
Bronislaw Komorowski said he hopes for the best for the two countries and that relations will keep improving and last for another 600 years.
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