The Imia Crisis: When Greece Faced War in the Aegean (video)

Turkish reporters who were helicoptered in to plant flag on Imia islet are pictured in this January 1996 photo. (file photo)

Unlikely as it may seem, a dispute over salvage rights between Turkish and Greek captains was the trigger for a series of events which escalated into a major international incident.

The spiraling crisis saw the deployment of both countries’ special forces, the involvement of the U.S., and the loss of three Greek officers.

On Dec. 26, 1995, a Turkish cargo vessel “Figen Akat” ran aground on the easternmost point of the two islets, which are just seven kilometers (4.4 miles) from the coast of Bodrum, Turkey.

When a Greek tug approached to help, the Turkish captain insisted he was in his country’s territorial waters. After the vessel was eventually towed to a Turkish port, a routine salvage claim by the Greek skipper began the political wheels turning in the faraway Turkish capital of Ankara.

On Dec. 27, Turkey contacted Greek authorities as a precursor to declaring ownership of the two tiny islets.

The Aegean had already been the backdrop for many years of repeated tensions between the two supposed allies over the ownership of islands, islets, territorial waters, and airspace.

What made the Imia situation different was the way in which the situation escalated, involving the U.S., the European Union and the political leaderships of both countries.

Athens denied the Turkish sovereignty claim, citing a range of international treaties from 1923, 1932 and 1947. But it was not until later, in January 1996, that events took a turn for the worse.

“Flag Wars”

Having gone largely unnoticed at first, the Greek press seized on the issue which became the first to confront new Greek premier Kostas Simitis. On Jan. 25, 1996, Greeks who lived on the nearby island of Kalymnos sailed to Imia and raised the Greek flag.

Turkish media suddenly took notice, and team of reporters from the Hurriyet newspaper were dispatched to the islets (called “Kardak” in Turkish) to unfurl their country’s flag on live television.

The Greek Navy intervened the next day, sailing to the islets and replacing the Turkish flag, as an increasingly feverish atmosphere gripped both countries. Brand-new Greek Prime Minister Simitis began to trade barbs with his Turkish counterpart, Tansu Ciller.

Naval vessels from both nations sailed to the hotspot, and Turkish troops in northern Cyprus were reported to have moved closer to the island’s dividing line, prompting an alert from Greek Cypriot forces.

Greek special forces were landed on Imia and, on Jan. 31, Turkish forces followed suit. Four hours later the crisis claimed its first lives, as a helicopter from the Greek frigate “Navarino” crashed while on a reconnaissance mission.

Three officers on board the helicopter, Christodoulos Karathanasis, Panagiotis Vlahakos and Ektoras Gialopsos, were killed.

Remains of the Navy helicopter that crashed, killing three Greek servicemen during the 1996 Imia crisis (file photo).

Although the incident was covered up at the time, there are allegations the helicopter had been fired upon by Turkish forces.

It was only the shuttle diplomacy between Greece and Turkey by the U.S., as NATO’s largest military power, which halted the escalations and returned the situation to an enduring — and frosty — stalemate.

Greece and Turkey continue to disagree on the islets’ sovereignty and no military forces are stationed there. However, the issue continues to dog relations between Athens and Ankara, often coming to the fore whenever Greek and Turkish ships or military forces come into close contact in the Aegean.

The moment a Greek patrol boat was rammed by a Turkish vessel off Imia, February 2018

In February of 2018, a Turkish ship rammed into the Greek Coast Guard vessel “Gavdos” near Imia.

At the time, Greek defense sources said the Gavdos was stationary when the Turkish vessel hit it. The Port Authority confirmed that the Turkish patrol boat had entered Greek territorial waters.

In the aftermath of the incident, Greece filed a strongly-worded demarche with the Turkish embassy.

“Earthquake diplomacy”

Although those tense days of 1996 have cast a shadow over official Greek/Turkish relations, the tense situation was abated after the Aug. 17, 1999 earthquake in Turkey.

The temblor devastated large parts of Turkey and killed 17,000 people according to official figures. Turkey saw its Greek neighbors moved to send a great deal of aid, donating blood and extending a helping hand, despite decades of mistrust.

When Athens was struck by an earthquake one month later, which killed 143 people, the Turkish people also responded, sending rescue workers and other support.

Still, these two tiny islets have been the scene of repeated games of “chicken” between Turkish and Greek forces. At times, seemingly unconnected events spark a renewal of tension, such as Greek courts’ refusal to extradite eight Turkish former servicemen for their alleged role in the July, 2016 attempted coup in Turkey.

On Tuesday, defense authorities in Greece refuted reports in the Turkish media suggesting that Turkey had sent ships to the Imia islets which were preventing Greek vessels from approaching the area.

In a statement, Greece’s National Defense General Staff said the reports were part of customary efforts by Ankara to play up the Tuesday anniversary of the 1996 crisis, which brought the two countries to the brink of war.

Military sources emphasized that the situation around the islets was calm.