Foreign relations exist between Azerbaijan and Poland. The embassy of Poland opened in Azerbaijan on August 23, 2001, and the Azerbaijani Embassy in Poland on August 30, 2004. Both countries are full members of the Council of Europe and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). At present over a thousand of self-identified Poles in Azerbaijan. Historical relations Diplomatic relations dates back to the 15th century when the ruler of Aq Qoyunlu Uzun Hassan established diplomatic relations with Jogaila. Polish Ledinski and Azerbaijani Alimardan Topchubashov founded a special group together in the Duma to struggle for the autonomy of Poland and Azerbaijan. When Mammed Amin Rasulzade founded Azerbaijan Democratic Republic in 1918, which was the first secular and democratic republic in the Muslim world, the first chief of staff of the national army became Polish general Maciej Sulkiewicz. It is also notable that Rasulzade went to Poland in 1938 and he met his second wife Wanda who was a niece of Polish statesman Józef Piłsudski. During the Katyn massacre, Hamid Mahammadzadeh, an ethnic Azeri member of the Polish Officer Corps, was among 22,000 Polish nationals shot down by the NKVD, the Soviet secret police, in 1940. Recent political relations Poland recognized Azerbaijan's independence on December 27, 1991. Though intensive diplomatic contacts developed only few years later when Heydar Aliyev visited Poland in August 1997 and then Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski visited to Azerbaijan in October 1999. Poland backed Azerbaijan for membership in both the Council of Europe and the World Trade Organization and declared its interest in participating in various energy projects. Poland supports Azerbaijan's bid to join the European Union and NATO. and through the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict against Armenia, Poland supported Azerbaijan although it is sporadic due to later recognition of Armenian genocide by Poland in which Azerbaijan protested against. Poland is able to have a friendly relations with Armenia, but close relations with Azerbaijan and Polish Government's recent decision for its citizens to ask permission from Azerbaijan before visiting the Nagorno-Karabakh region resulted in the Polish government's decision being described as "anti-Armenian" by Armenian nationalist groups and youth organizations. Poland's then president Lech Kaczynski visited Azerbaijan in 2007, and on February 26, 2008 President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev paid a visit to Poland. A joint statement of both was signed during the visit. The statement noted that Poland supports the peaceful settlement of the conflict in