Ladies and Gentlemen,

The current exhibition of contemporary Turkish Caricature in our museum is a response to the exhibition of Polish Caricature, held in Ankara, at the Festival of Caricature, five years ago. Both exhibitions were organised by the distinguished Turkish caricaturist - Nezih Danyal - director of the Ankara festival.

The achievements of Turkish caricaturists fully justify the Warsaw presentation - part of our ongoing exhibition theme 'World Caricature'. The exhibition consists of two parts - joint exhibition of 44 aritists (130 caricatures) and and individual exhibition of Nehiz Danyal (60 caricatures) - from 1986 to 2005, including the series 'Globanatolization'. The exhibition could not have taken place without help of the Turkish Embassy in Poland and various sponsors, Turkish and Polish.

Despite the stormy, often hostile, history between our two nations, there is evidence of warm cultural links between Turkey and Poland, in the begining of 19th century, when Poland didn't exist on the map. No need to remind the fact, that the Ottoman Empire never acknowledged the partition of Poland and the links between Poland and Turkey, since 1923 (the creation of the Turkish Republic) have been very strong.

There are several Polish-Turkish organisations and institutions in Poland, there are also some prominent artists, connected strongly with Polish culture. I'm thinking mainly about Feridan Erol, well known theatre and tv director - and his brother Jakub, great individuality of Polsih (!) school of poster and graphic design.

Both our countries belong to many international organisations, among others the NATO. This year, Turkey started negotiations about joining the Europen Union. The recent Polish experience can help in tightening the friendship between our countries. Our exhibition, entitled significantly "Welcome Turkey!' honours the 82nd anniversary of the creation of the Turkish Republic. It is worth mentioning, that the day of the opening of our exhibition also coincides with the 150th anniversary of Adam Mickiewicz's death and the opening, the day before, of the new, permanent exhibition at the Istanbul Adam Mickiewicz Museum. The symbolic coincidence gives our exhibition an extra dimension and meaning.

Marek Wojciech Chmurzyński
Director of the Museum of Caricature in Warsaw

Authors:

M. AGAOGLU, E. AKYOL, M. BILIGIN, A. BULCA, O. CAM, S. CANER, I. CELEN, O. COPLU, A.H. CELIKKOL, H. CEYLAN, F. DOGAN, A.U. ERSOY, M. GUMUS, S. GUTURKUN, O. GUREL, G. KABAKCIOUGLU, M. KAHRAMAN, I. KAR, G. KAYA, P. MADRA, E. MALKOC, K. MASARACI, S. MUNZUR, S. ODABASI, T. ORAL, H. ORDUHAN, E. OZBEK, A. OZER, A. OZESKICI, O. OZMAN, C. POLAT, S. POLAT, S. POROY, I. ROZENTAL, T. SELECUK, M. SENGOZ, N. SIMSEK, M. SUKRUO LU, A. SUR, Y.N. TERIZIOGLU, N. YILMAZ and NEZIH DANYAL.