The Kardak/Imia Crisis

Kardak (Turkish) or Imia (Greek) is a pair of two small uninhabited islets in the Aegean Sea.
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 demilitarisation of the Aegean islands. n
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.1
In 1995 there were no life had been detected on the islets, which lie between the Greek island
Kalymnos and Turkey’s Bodrum Peninsula on one of the most beautiful parts of the Aegean.
To Greece, the islets are Greek territory; for Turkey, they are in “gray zones” which means
that “undetermined sovereignty by Turkey”, and therefore Greece cannot claim them.2
On 25 December 1995 Turkish cargo ship Figen Akat ran ashore on the islets and had to be
salvaged. It called Turkish authorities to help. This at first resulted in a conflict between the
Turkish captain and the Greek authorities over who was responsible for the salvage operation.
On 27 December, the Turkish Foreign Ministry first notified the Greek authorities that it
believed there was a sovereignty issue, and on 29 December it officially declared it considered
the islets Turkish territory. The then-Greek Foreign Minister, Theodoros Pangalos, sent a
reply to Turkey claiming an indisputable Greek sovereignty over the islets. This was followed
by the mayor of the Greek island Kalymnos and a priest hoisting a Greek flag  on the islets on
Jan. 26, escalating the tension. It wasn’t the Turkish military or officials, but Turkish TV
journalists, abandoning any sense of objectivity, who flew to the islet in a helicopter and
raised a Turkish flag a few days later. Within 24 hours, on Jan.30, Greek forces changed the
flag again. The crisis heightened as Greek, Turkish and NATO forces sailed to the islets. On
Jan. 31, at dawn, the Greek Navy  helicopter flying over Kardak/Imia said that that Turkish
troops had landed on the islets. After intense pressure from the U.S., Greek and Turkish
government removed their military forces from Imia. The territorial issue has remained
unresolved since then. Kardak/Imia and other islets in the Aegean are considered as “grey
zones” of undetermined sovereignty by Turkey. 3
During the crisis, Turkish Prime Minister Tansu Çiller said that “the flag would go down and
that soldier would go”, and added that “the Turkish Armed Forces were ready for war”. It

1Migdalovitz, Carol. "Greece and Turkey: The Rocky Islet Crisis" , Congressional Research Service - The Library of
Congress. Retrieved 2013-07-24.
2 http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2017/01/turkey-greece-european-union-island-crisis.html
3Migdalovitz, Carol. "Greece and Turkey: The Rocky Islet Crisis" , Congressional Research Service - The Library of
Congress. Retrieved 2013-07-24.

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was such an hawk behaviour of Turkey from the top of the state and Greek side could not
expect it. 4We can analyse the situation between Turkey and Greece that could be defined as
totally an unsolvable blindfold without any foreign actors. However Turkey and Greece are
two strong allies of NATO and the USA would not let them to slot in the allied forces
organisation. Nevertheless, the EU backed the Greek side on the Kardak/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 neighbours through peaceful ways, in accordance with the United
Nations Charter, and or by raising the matter at the International Court of Justice instead.5
So, in this conflict, we have two rival parties which are Greece and Turkey, and one peace
maker mediator which is the USA. Analysing stakes, attitudes and tactics as approaches of
preventive diplomacy, here, Greece and Turkey had similar interests on Aegean Sea, the both
countries have been clashing in Aegean Sea since the end of the World War I and their all
ideas on Aegean Sea make them rival states in the region. Also the both governments, during
the crisis days, stayed strong and even they were determined to get in a war. Turkish and
Greek armed forces were ready to clash to solve the conflict in `easy way`. But we cannot say
that Greek Armed forces did do right thing in the right place and in the right time. Because
the second pair of the islets were left empty by Greek armed forces and Turkish armed forces
sent a troop to the empty one. After all the Greek General Chief of Staff suggested the Greek
Prime Minister to bomb the islet. 6 But the government could not venture the situation and
the Prime Minister wanted him to resign. So we can see how the coordination of stakes,
tactics and attitudes is important to achieve your diplomatic goals.
When we look at the situation of the USA in this crisis we can see how one super power as a
mediator is affective to prevent a conflict. The President Bill Clinton, the diplomatic delegate
Richard Holbroke and the Secretary General of NATO Javier Solana made very important
phone calls and created a phone traffic between Turkey and Greece.7 The USA, which is the
major power of the organisation, did not want to see a conflict among NATO allies. So the
USA tried too much to prevent a war in Aegean Sea. Moreover, the USA warned two sides to
interfere it which fired first. Neither Greece nor Turkey could oppose the admonition of the
biggest super power. So, with the attempts of NATO and the USA the conflict was
pigeonholed.

4http://washingtonhatti.com/2017/01/30/turkish-commanders-tour-kardak-islets-tension-rises-btw-turkey-
greece/
5 http://www.kastellorizo.org/megisti/gr-europarliament.html
6http://www.ntv.com.tr/video/turkiye/20-yil-sonra-sat-komandolari-kardak-krizini-
anlatti,_Es9br6lQUyNbBQQ-eAVmw
7 Yesilada, Birol. “EU-Turkey Relations in the 21st Century” , Routlege, London, 2013. p.53-55

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