Ι don't forget... Imia 1996 (ENG VERSE)

Day 2,264, 20:18 • Published in Greece Argentina • by Rambo 1st blood

Ι don't forget... Imia 1996,

Christodoulos Karathanassis
Panagiotis Vlahakos
Hector Gialopsos

ΙMMORTAL!







Today marks the 17th anniversary of the Imia crisis, a showdown between Greece and Turkey over a couple small islets in the Aegean that brought the two countries to the brink of war. Though armed conflict was ultimately averted, the crisis set the tone for relations between Greece, Turkey and the United States and did little to provide stability and certainty in the Aegean.

Under international law, the islets are undeniably Greek. Yet Turkey has repeatedly disputed Greek sovereignty over these islets – along with other internationally-recognized and historically Greek islands – in unabashed attempts to extend Turkish governance into the Aegean, often threatening military action.

The crisis began on Christmas day in Imia in 1995, when a Turkish ship was wrecked on the rocky coast of the island. Although the ship was in Greek territorial waters, Turkish authorities denied the need for Greek assistance in salvaging the ship, claiming that the islet actually lay in Turkish territorial waters. Eventually, a Greek tugboat towed the ship to Turkey. Days later, Turkey openly made claims to Greek territory by declaring to the Greek Embassy in Ankara that the islet belonged to Turkey. Greece flatly rejected the Turkish claims, citing international agreements and treaties that supported Greece’s sovereignty over the islets.

On January 20, 1996, a Greek magazine published a story about the controversy surrounding Imia. On January 26th, the mayor of neighboring Greek island Kalimnos and a priest went to the island and hoisted a Greek flag. Turkish journalists arrived on the islet a few days later, taking down the Greek flag and replacing it with a Turkish flag. Within twenty-four hours, members of the Greek navy replaced the flag with a Greek flag.

Meanwhile, Kostas Simitis had just assumed the office of Prime Minister in Greece the day before, fueling speculation that Turkey was “testing” the new Greek government. By the 31st of January, tensions reached a climax, with both Greek and Turkish military forces surrounding the islets, ready to confront the other side.

U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke intervened in the matter, negotiating a drawdown of forces and preventing war. Both sides backed off and agreed to return to the “status quo ante” concerning the islets. Averting war, however, came at a price. Turkey thereafter took the position that the islets and other islands in the Aegean fall under a “grey zone,” from there drawing justification for asserting territorial claims to islands and waters that are historically, and legally Greek.

To this day, Turkey continues to make such claims in the Aegean, a region where hydrocarbons have been discovered. The Turkish government continues to give no heed to international laws in challenging Greece – and the Republic of Cyprus’ – Exclusive Economic Zones.

On this anniversary, I interviewed Michail Ignatiou, State Department correspondent for several Greek media outlets and author of Imia – which revealed famously-cryptic telegrams between U.S. and Greek government officials during the crisis.