Our Series on Tiny Disputes takes us to the Eastern shores of the Aegean Sea.
Many conflicts have occurred between Turkey and Greece since the Greek secession of 1822. Currently, they range from the Cypriot conflict to disagreements over Exclusive Economic Zones in the Mediterranean, and to the definition of territorial waters in the Aegean Sea. The only land that is directly in conflict between the two republics consists of two adjacent rocks in the Eastern Aegean Sea. These are known as Imia in Greek and as Kardak in Turkish, and their total landmass is less than 5 hectares. The dispute comes from a different interpretation of the clauses of the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923. While it was not the subject of tension until 1995, a maritime incident led to both countries landing and planting flags on these rocks, which escalated to military skirmishes in 1996 and again in 2018. The dispute remains unresolved today.
The Imia-Kardak Rocks Dispute
