Disputed islands Other names: Limnia, İkizce, Heipethes |
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Location of Imia/Kardak islets in Aegean Sea
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Geography | |
Location | Aegean Sea |
Coordinates | 37°03′03″N 27°09′04″E / 37.05083°N 27.15111°ECoordinates: 37°03′03″N 27°09′04″E / 37.05083°N 27.15111°E |
Total islands | 2 |
Area | 40,000 m2 or 4.0 ha or 9.9 acres |
Claimed by | |
Greece | |
Turkey | |
Demographics | |
Population | 0 |
Border Protocol of 1932 Demarcation line |
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Geographical points Turkish side |
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Point | Name in text | Modern name |
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A | Mordala I. | |
B | Kara Ada | Kara Ada |
C | Guirejik I. | Gürecik Adası |
D | Utchian I. | Kargı Adası |
E | Arkialla Pt. | |
F | Hussein Pt. | Hüseyin Burnu |
G | Lodo | Yassıada |
H | Atsaki | Topan Adası / Zouka |
I | Kato I. | Çavuş Adası |
J | Pondikusa | Büyükkiremit Adası |
K | Sandama Peninsula | İnce Burnu |
L | C. Monodendri | Tekeağaç |
Italian (later Greek) side | ||
Point | Name in text | Modern name |
A | C. Phuka | Ag. Fokas |
B | Luro Pt | Akr. Psalidi |
C | Kum Pt. | Akr. Ammoglossa |
D | C. Russa | Akr. Roussa |
E | Vasiliki Pt. | Vasiliki |
F | Karapsili Pt. | Akr. Atsipas |
G | Kardak (Rks) | Imia/Kardak |
H | Kalolimno | Kalolimnos |
I | Agia Kiriaki | Ag. Kiriaki |
J | Pharmako | Farmakonisi |
Source: Text of the 1932 treaty and border protocol, and modern maps of the area. |
Imia (Greek: Ίμια) or Kardak is a pair of two small uninhabited islets in the Aegean Sea, situated between the Greek island chain of the Dodecanese and the southwestern mainland coast of Turkey. They lie 5.5 nautical miles (10.2 km; 6.3 mi) east of the Greek island Kalymnos, and 2.5 nmi (4.6 km; 2.9 mi) southeast of the nearest small Greek islet, Kalolimnos, and 3.8 nmi (7.0 km; 4.4 mi) west of the coast of the Turkish peninsula of Bodrum. Their total surface area is 10 acres (4.0 ha).
The islands are also referred to as Limnia (Λίμνια) in Greek, or İkizce in Turkish, or as Heipethes in some early-20th century maps.
Imia/Kardak was the object of a military crisis and subsequent dispute over sovereignty between Greece and Turkey in 1996. The Imia/Kardak dispute is part of the larger Aegean dispute, which also comprises disputes over the continental shelf, the territorial waters, the air space, the Flight Information Regions (FIR) and the demilitarization of the Aegean islands. In the aftermath of the Imia/Kardak crisis, the dispute was also widened, as Turkey began to lay parallel claims to a larger number of other islets in the Aegean. These islands, some of them inhabited, are regarded as indisputably Greek by Greece but as grey zones of undetermined sovereignty by Turkey.
The European Union backed the Greek side on the Imia dispute, and warned EU-candidate country Turkey to refrain from any kind of threat or action directed against the sovereignty of EU member state Greece. Turkey was called upon to solve any border disputes with its neighbors through peaceful ways, in accordance with the United Nations Charter, and or by raising the matter at the International Court of Justice instead.