Imia crisis

Imia/Kardak

Disputed islands Other names: Limnia, İkizce, Heipethes
Location of Imia/Kardak islets in Aegean Sea
Geography
Location	Aegean Sea
Coordinates	37°03′03″N 27°09′04″E / 37.05083°N 27.15111°E / 37.05083; 27.15111Coordinates: 37°03′03″N 27°09′04″E / 37.05083°N 27.15111°E / 37.05083; 27.15111
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
Geographical points Turkish side
Point	Name in text	Modern name
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.