Ireland–Turkey relations

File:İrlanda mektup.jpg

File:Embassy of Turkey in Dublin.jpg

During the Great Famine in Ireland of the 1840s, Ottoman Sultan Abdülmecid (pronounced Abdul Majid) donated £1,000 to famine relief (equivalent to between US$84,000 and US$216,000 in 2019Lawrence H. Officer and Samuel H. Williamson, "Computing 'Real Value' Over Time With a Conversion Between U.K. Pounds and U.S. Dollars, 1791 to Present", MeasuringWorth, 2021.). A letter written by Irish notables in the Ottoman archives explicitly thanks the Sultan for his help.{{cite news|title=Abdülmecid'in İrlanda halkına yaptığı yardım 'efsane' değilmiş|url=http://www.zaman.com.tr/gundem_abdulmecidin-irlanda-halkina-yaptigi-yardim-efsane-degilmis_1256853.html|newspaper=Zaman|access-date=20 May 2013|language=tr|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130813130441/http://www.zaman.com.tr/gundem_abdulmecidin-irlanda-halkina-yaptigi-yardim-efsane-degilmis_1256853.html|archive-date=13 August 2013}}

According to legend,{{cite book|author=Kinealy, Christine|year=1997|contribution=Potatoes, providence and philanthropy|editor=O'Sullivan, Patrick|title=The Meaning of the Famine|location=London|publisher=Leicester University Press|isbn=0-7185-1426-2|page=151|quote=According to a popular tradition, which dates back to 1853...}}{{cite book|author=Ó Gráda, Cormac|year=1999|title=Black '47 and Beyond|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=0-691-01550-3|pages=[https://archive.org/details/black47beyondgre00ogra/page/197 197–198]|quote=...populist myths...|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/black47beyondgre00ogra/page/197}} the Sultan had originally intended to send £10,000, but either British diplomats or his own ministers requested that the Sultan send only £1,000, so as not to violate protocol by donating more than Queen Victoria, who had sent £2,000.Christine Kinealy (2013), [https://books.google.com/books?id=GnksAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA115 Charity and the Great Hunger in Ireland: The Kindness of Strangers] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200512035214/https://books.google.com/books?id=GnksAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA115 |date=2020-05-12 }}, pp. 115, 118 He is also said to have sent three or five ships full of food.{{citation|last=Akay|first=Latifa|title=Ottoman aid to the Irish to hit the big screen|url=http://www.todayszaman.com/newsDetail_getNewsById.action?newsId=269871|work=Zaman|date=29 January 2012|quote=Legend has it ...|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131017094035/http://www.todayszaman.com/newsDetail_getNewsById.action?newsId=269871|archive-date=17 October 2013}}{{citation|title=Gratitude to the Ottomans|first=Abdullah|last=Aymaz|date=October–December 2007|url=http://www.fountainmagazine.com/Issue/detail/Gratitude-to-the-Ottomans|work=The Fountain Magazine|issue=60|access-date=2014-08-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170612180453/http://www.fountainmagazine.com/Issue/detail/Gratitude-to-the-Ottomans|archive-date=2017-06-12|url-status=dead}} Shipping records relating to the port appear not to have survived. Newspaper reports suggest that ships from Thessaloniki (Selanik) in the Ottoman Empire sailed up the River Boyne in May 1847,{{cite web|last=Kelly|first=Antoinette|title=New evidence shows Turkey delivered food to Ireland during the famine|url=http://www.irishcentral.com/news/New-evidence-shows-Turkey-delivered-food--to-Ireland-during-the-famine-156681255.html|publisher=IrishCentral|access-date=11 July 2012|archive-date=17 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131017112248/http://www.irishcentral.com/news/New-evidence-shows-Turkey-delivered-food--to-Ireland-during-the-famine-156681255.html|url-status=live}} although it has also been claimed that the river was dry at the time. In 1995, the Drogheda town hall erected a placard in commemoration. In 2012, plans were announced to produce a film on the subject, starring Colin Farrell and several Turkish stars.{{cite web|url=http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/film-to-depict-ottoman-aid-to-ireland-.aspx?pageID=238&nID=25355&NewsCatID=381|title=CINEMA-TV - Film to depict Ottoman aid to Ireland|access-date=2014-11-17|archive-date=2014-11-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129022823/http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/film-to-depict-ottoman-aid-to-ireland-.aspx?pageID=238&nID=25355&NewsCatID=381|url-status=live}}

The claim that he had wanted to give £10,000 first appears in Taylor & Mackay's Life and Times of Sir Robert Peel (1851), but the book is not referenced and no source is given. A second source, dating to 1894, is more explicit: the Irish nationalist William J. O'Neill Daunt claimed to have heard from the son of the sultan's personal physician that he "had intended to give £10,000 to the famine-stricken Irish, but was deterred by the English ambassador, Lord Cowley, as Her Majesty, who had only subscribed £1000, would have been annoyed had a foreign sovereign given a larger sum…"{{cite web | title = Queen Victoria's £5: the Strange Tale of Turkish Aid to Ireland During the Great Famine | publisher = A Blast from the Past | date = December 29, 2014 | url = https://mikedashhistory.com/2014/12/29/queen-victorias-5-the-strange-tale-of-turkish-aid-to-ireland-during-the-great-famine/ | access-date = 2016-06-22 | archive-date = 2016-06-04 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160604213640/https://mikedashhistory.com/2014/12/29/queen-victorias-5-the-strange-tale-of-turkish-aid-to-ireland-during-the-great-famine/ | url-status = live }}

{{expand section|date=February 2020}}

In 2011, bilateral trade volume reached 1,19 billion USD with an Irish surplus of US$485 million. By the end of March 2012, 289 companies with Irish capital were active in Turkey. Ireland's direct investment in Turkey reached US$337 million in 2011.{{cite web |url=http://www.mfa.gov.tr/relations-between-turkey-and-ireland.en.mfa |title=Relations between Turkey and Ireland / Rep. of Turkey Ministry of Foreign Affairs |publisher=Mfa.gov.tr |date= |accessdate=2021-12-18 |archive-date=2013-06-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130607062710/http://www.mfa.gov.tr/relations-between-turkey-and-ireland.en.mfa |url-status=live }}

Turkish Airlines currently operate two daily flights between Dublin and Istanbul, with seasonal flights to Antalya. Aer Lingus, Ryanair and SunExpress also operate seasonal flights to some Mediterranean Turkish cities.

• Foreign relations of Ireland
• Foreign relations of Turkey
• Ireland-NATO relations
• Turkey-EU relations
• Accession of Turkey to the EU
• Turks in Ireland
• Turks in Europe
• Town arms of Drogheda

{{reflist}}

• [http://dublin.be.mfa.gov.tr/ Embassy of Turkey in Ireland]
• [https://www.dfa.ie/irish-embassy/turkey/ Embassy of Ireland in Turkey]
• [https://www.mfa.gov.tr/relations-between-turkiye-and-ireland.en.mfa Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs about relations with Ireland]

{{Foreign relations of the Republic of Ireland}}

{{Foreign relations of Turkey |expanded=Bilateral}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ireland-Turkey relations}}

Turkey

Category:Bilateral relations of Turkey