A tremendous thanks goes to Gülden Akıncı, the editor of the book... Actually, to call what she has done "editing" is a great injustice. Throughout the period of research and the writing of the book, Gülden Akıncı has conducted numerous correspondences between museums, institutions, embassies, writers and translators to check the validity of the information, she obtained the filming and copyright permissions in Turkey and Poland. She has also coordinated the connections between the two countries. She has conducted interviews in Polonezköy... Labeling the names of the people correctly in the old photographs for which she has spent a tremendous effort was the most important task. She has made up for the deficiencies of the book at every stage. She was there for the proofreading, the design and the printing. I do not know how we can pay all her efforts back. For this reason, if I have to put it forward in the simplest words, I can say that "This book belongs to Gülden Akıncı as much as it belongs to me". I thank her as much as the trees in the forest in Polonezköy. And then, I want to thank two of new friends who were by my side throughout the whole research; İlke Özgen Köleli and Dilek Özgül, for all their efforts... Above all to the Chairman of Istanbul 2010 European Capital of Culture Agency Mr. Şekip Avdagiç and the members of the Executive Board; to the Literature Director of the Agency Ahmet Kot; those people working in the Agency; to the esteemed Executives of the Board of Türk Telekom; to Nur İnuğur in the name of Sanat Matbaacılık Medya ve Reklam Hizmetleri Ltd. Şti. for their extensive support to the project... To Ali Serdar Savaş who made a dream turn into reality by designing the book...

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