THE EMPLOYMENT OF POLISH REFUGEES DURING THE REIGN OF ABDULHAMID II

Year 2017, Volume: 21 Issue: 1, 43 - 54, 18.04.2017

Vedat Kanat

Abstract

In the second half of the 18th century, Poland shared three times in gradually by its neighbours Russia, Prussia and Austria. After sharing thousand of Polish migrated to different places or were been banished. In this process the Ottoman Empire have been the country embraced Polish exiles and refugees heavily. During the 19th century many Polish people settled in the Ottoman lands, mainly in the cities of Rumelia and Balkans and continued their lives here as the Ottoman subjects.

            The Ottoman Empire employed these refugees who converted to the Islam sometimes, mainly in the military and administrative areas due to events in the Balkans. It was possiple to see the Polish refugees as a soldier, a doctor, an engineer or a craft with changed names and religion in different regions of the Ottoman Empire. In this study, it will examined that how Polish refugees were employed and then how they were involved in social life of the Ottoman Empire in the period of Abdulhamid II.