Militarization of Aegean Islands

Subject: Geography

Section: Mapping

Concept:

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned Greece to demilitarize islands in the Aegean Sea,
Turkey claims Greece has been building a military presence in violation of treaties that guarantee the unarmed status of the Aegean islands.
It argues the islands were ceded to Greece on the condition they remained demilitarized.
Greece and Turkey are NATO allies, but the neighboring countries have a history of disputes over a range of issues, including mineral exploration in the eastern Mediterranean and rival claims in the Aegean Sea.

Aegean Islands

The Aegean Islands are the group of islands in the Aegean Sea, with mainland Greece to the west and north and Turkey to the east; the island of Crete delimits the sea to the south, those of Rhodes, Karpathos and Kasos to the southeast.
The vast majority of the Aegean Islands belong to Greece, being split among nine administrative regions.
The only sizable possessions of Turkey in the Aegean Sea are Imbros (Gökçeada) and Tenedos (Bozcaada), in the northeastern part of the Sea.
The Aegean Islands are traditionally subdivided into seven groups, from north to south:
- Northeastern Aegean Islands
- Euboea
- Sporades (Northern Sporades)
- Cyclades
- Saronic Islands
- Dodecanese (Southern Sporades)
- Crete