Türkiyede Polonya

When the Crimean War (1853 –1856) broke out, the Poles expected that the war will spread over throughout Europe. Mickiewicz believed in the fact that participation by the Poles in that war would be beneficial for the independence of Poland and the forces in Europe will take Poland again on their agenda. The poet was following up the developments in the Oriental hemisphere and took a close interest in the Cossack Cavalry Regiments, organized by Michał Czaykowski/Mehmed Sadık Pasha and Władysław Zamoyski in the Ottoman army. Mickiewicz travelled to the Orient for the first time during the Crimean War. He was so pleased that he would be travelled to the Oriental geography and made his preparation with great enthusiasm. In September of 1855, his secretary and close friend, Armand Lévy, and Henryk Służalski, who was his assistant, set of the road towards the Ottoman Empire. Mickiewicz went to the capital of the Ottomans officially as a representative of the French Ministry of Education in order to research the educational, scientific and literature status of the Slavic people living along the boundaries of the empire. The appointment of the Hôtel Lambert that was a roof or shelter for the political activities of the Poles on exile in France was the main objective of his travel. The poet started learning the Ottoman language while he was just on the ship. He indicated in his letters that Istanbul made him to call back his hometown Nowogródek to mind. Mickiewicz knew very well that it was his principal duty was not to come to the capital of the Ottomans to enjoy the pleasure of the Orient the same as other Romantics, but to put an end to the fierce disagreement between Zamoyski and Sadık Pasha having organized the Cossack Cavalry Regiments. Following his arrival in Istanbul after a short while, he had the opportunity to go to the campus of the Cossack Regiment of Sadık Pasha, located in Burgas, and to experience the camp live over there, and slept at the tent and went hunting. The periods that he spent with the nature and Cossacks made him call back his country. After the elapse of a few weeks, he sided with Sadık Pasha and returned to Istanbul. Mickiewicz, who wanted to experience the Orient fully at the Ottoman capital and did not prefer a luxurious life therein, always turned down the invitations of the elite Polish immigrants to come to their (waterside mansions) on the Bosporus shore. He rented together an unused house with his fellow friend at the point of the crossroad of the Yeni Şehir and Kalyoncu Kulluğu streets at a remote part of Pera (Beyoğlu) that has been a cosmopolite district on those days. Mickiewicz spent only two months in the Ottoman Empire, and failed to implement his plans with relation to the Ottomans and Crimean War, and suddenly died on the date of November 26, 1855. Notwithstanding that the reason for his death was the cholera disease according to general supposition, some of the Poles having lived in Istanbul at that period claimed that Mickiewicz was poisoned by some others. One of the visitors, who visited the poet on the day of his death, mentioned about his final words as follows: “If I knew that I would die from the cholera in Istanbul, I would still come to this city because it was my duty. I prefer working in the clerical works of a Turkish battalion rather than becoming a director in a scientific academy in France.”

The place of burial of Mickiewicz has caused various arguments and discussions among the Polish immigrants. Czaykowski wanted the poet to be buried at Adampol - at current Polonezköy-, which was regarded as the only land of the free Poland. However, most of the immigrants stood up against to that proposal. The Prince Adam Czartoryski, who was the leader of Hôtel Lambert, decided to bury Mickiewicz in Paris where his children were living and a few months ago, his wife passed away.

One month after his death, the corpse of the poet was embarked on a ship that will take him to France on the date of December 30, 1855. Hundreds of people took part in the funeral march despite of a rainy and cold weather. There were not only the Poles among the people, who attended in the funeral, but at the same time, Slavic people, Greeks and Levantines.          

The house where the poet has spent the last weeks of his life turned out to be a place of ceremony for those of the Poles living in Istanbul. It has also been a location that has been definitely visited by the Polish people, who come to the Ottoman capital. The building was burnt to ground in the Pera fire, occurred in 1870, however, the Polish businessman,   Henryk Groppler, who lived in Istanbul, bought the land where the house was located. Then, the carpenter, Józef Ratyński, however, built up the same (identical) house. The street where the said building was located on was then named as Adam Street in the memory of Mickiewicz. In subsequent period, the Mickiewicz museum was opened in November 1955 on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the death of the poet and continues to host its visitors up to current period. Notwithstanding that the name of the street became the Tatlı Badem Street within the time, the other street next to the museum building was named as Adam Mickiewicz Street.