Template:Short description Template:About Template:Redirect Template:Redirect Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox islands Imbros (Template:Langx;<ref>Template:Cite DGRG</ref> Template:Langx; Template:Langx), officially Gökçeada (Template:Lit) since 29 July 1970,<ref name="Alexandris">Alexis Alexandris, "The Identity Issue of The Minorities in Greece And Turkey", in Hirschon, Renée (ed.), Crossing the Aegean: An Appraisal of the 1923 Compulsory Population Exchange Between Greece and Turkey, Berghahn Books, 2003, p. 120</ref><ref>"Hüzün Adası: İmroz" Template:Webarchive, Yeniçağ, 12 July 2007</ref> is the largest island of Turkey, located in Çanakkale Province. It is located in the north-northeastern Aegean Sea, at the entrance of Saros Bay, and has the westernmost point of Turkey (Cape İncirburnu). Imbros has an area of Template:Convert,<ref name="yearbook">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and has some wooded areas.<ref name="concise">"Gökçeada", from Britannica Concise Encyclopedia</ref>

As of 2023, the island-district of Gökçeada has a population of 10,721.<ref name=tuik>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The main industries of Imbros are fishing and tourism. By the end of the 20th century, the island was predominantly inhabited by settlers from the Turkish mainland that mostly arrived after 1960,<ref name=Babul/> with the indigenous Greek population having declined to about 300 persons by the start of the 21st century.<ref name="Al-monitor">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Historically, the island was primarily inhabited by ethnic Greeks<ref name="Alexandris"/> since the Iron Age until approximately the 1960s. The Greek Imbriot diaspora is thought to number around 15,000 globally and in Turkey, and has a strong special Imbrian identity.<ref name="Al-monitor"/><ref name="Babul" /> The 2010s saw a tentative revitalisation of the island's remaining Greek community.<ref name="exterminationflourish">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

HistoryEdit

In mythologyEdit

According to Greek mythology, the palace of Thetis, mother of Achilles, king of Phthia, was situated between Imbros and Samothrace.

File:Gokceada3.JPG
View of Samothrace from Imbros

The stables of the winged horses of Poseidon were said to lie between Imbros and Tenedos.

Homer wrote in the Iliad:

<poem>

In the depths of the sea on the cliff Between Tenedos and craggy Imbros There is a cave, wide gaping Poseidon who made the earth tremble, stopped the horses there.<ref>Homer, The Iliad Book XIII.</ref>

</poem>

Eëtion, a lord of or ruler over the island of Imbros, is also mentioned in the Iliad. He buys Priam's captured son Lycaon and restores him to his father.<ref>Homer, The Iliad, Book XXI.</ref> Homer also writes that Hera and Hypnos leave Lemnos and Imbros making their way to Mount Ida.<ref>Homer, The Iliad, Book XIV.</ref> Homer mentions Imbros in the Iliad on other occasions as well.

Imbros is mentioned in the Homeric Hymn which was dedicated to Apollo.<ref>Homeric Hymn 3 to Delian Apollon</ref>

Apollonius of Rhodes also mentions Imbros in the first book of his work Argonautica.<ref>APOLLONIUS RHODIUS, BOOK 1 OF ARGONAUTICA</ref>

In antiquityEdit

The original inhabitants of Imbros were Pelasgians, worshipped Cabeiri, and Hermes as a god of reproduction in ithyphallic form, whence his Carian epithet, 'Ιμβραμος, has been supposed to be derived. For ancient Greeks, the islands of Lemnos and Imbros were sacred to Hephaestus, god of metallurgy, and on ancient coins of Imbros an ithyphallic Hephaestus appears.

In classical antiquity, Imbros, like Lemnos, was an Athenian cleruchy, a colony whose settlers retained Athenian citizenship; although since the Imbrians appear on the Athenian tribute lists, there may have been a division with the native population. The original inhabitants of Imbros were Pelasgians, as mentioned by Herodotus in The Histories.<ref>Herodotus, The Histories, Book V.</ref>

In 511 or 512 BC the island was captured by the Persian general Otanes.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> But later, Miltiades conquered the island from Persia after the battle of Salamis; the colony was established about 450 BC, during the first Athenian empire, and was retained by Athens (with brief exceptions) for the next six centuries. Thucydides, in his History of the Peloponnesian War describes the colonization of Imbros,<ref>Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, Book VII.</ref> and at several places in his narrative mentions the contribution of Imbrians in support of Athens during various military actions.<ref>Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, Books III, IV, and V.</ref> He also recounts the escape of an Athenian squadron to Imbros.<ref>Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, Book VIII.</ref> During the Social War (357–355 BC) the Chians, Rhodians and Byzantians attacked Imbros and Lemnos, which were allies of Athens.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In the late second century A.D., the island may have become independent under Septimius Severus.<ref>Oxford Classical Dictionary: "Imbros"</ref>Template:Clarify

Strabo mentions that Cabeiri are most honored in Imbros and Lemnos.<ref>Strabo, Geography.</ref>

Stephanus of Byzantium mentions that Imbros was sacred to Cabeiri and Hermes.<ref>Template:Google books</ref><ref>Stephanus of Byzantium, Ethnica, § I331.14</ref>

Imbrian Mysteries were one of the secret religious rites of ancient Greece (similar to the Eleusinian Mysteries). Unfortunately, very little is known about the Imbrian Mysteries.<ref>Template:Google books</ref>

It is said that Philonomus had sent to Amyclae in Laconia colonists from Imbros and Lemnos.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Philostratus in his "Letter 70" to the Imbrian Cleophon, states that being a Lemnian, he considers Imbros also as his homeland.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Byzantine eraEdit

File:Eastern Mediterranean 1450 .svg
The Byzantine Empire in the first half of the 15th century. Thessaloniki was captured by the Ottomans in 1430. A few islands in the Aegean and the Propontis remained under Byzantine rule until 1453 (not shown on the map).

Prior to the Fall of Constantinople, several larger islands south of Imbros were under Genoese rule, part of the territory historically held in the eastern Mediterranean by the independent Maritime Republic of Genoa (1005–1797, thus predating the East–West schism of 1054) a political development emanating from the former territory of the Western Roman Empire, by city-states such as Venice, Pisa and Amalfi.

At the beginning of the 13th century, when the Fourth Crusade and its aftermath temporarily disrupted Venice's relations with the Byzantine Empire, Genoa expanded its influence north of Imbros, into the Black Sea and Crimea.

Ruy González de Clavijo, ambassador to Henry III of Castile to the court of Timur, travelled through the Aegean during his 1403-1406 Embassy to Samarkand, noted the island as being under the rule of the Byzantines.

Ottoman era (1455-1466, 1470-1912)Edit

Shortly following the fall of Constantinople in 1453, the Byzantine forces in Imbros left the island, and the population became Ottoman subjects. The island was not conquered by force, but rather through istimaletTemplate:Clarify policy. Michael Critoboulos, a leading Imvrian, and subsequently a chronicler of Mehmet II, organised and facilitated the peaceful surrender of the island to the Ottomans. In return for taxes and loyalty, the island was given a degree of relative autonomy, with administration under a local person. In 1479, the island came under definitive Ottoman rule. The Ottomans, through issuing kanunname and installing local Muslim rulers, attempted to integrate the entirely Orthodox Greek population. Feryal Tansuğ judges that it is difficult to determine the degree to which the islanders recognised Ottoman rule. After the island became Ottoman soil in 1455 it was administered by Ottomans and Venetians at various times. During this period, and particularly during the reign of Kanuni Sultan Süleyman (1520–1566), the island became a foundationTemplate:Clarify within the Ottoman Empire. Relations between the Ottomans and Venetians occasionally led to hostilities – for example, in June 1717 during the Turkish-Venetian War (1714-1718), a tough but ultimately fairly indecisive naval battle between a Venetian fleet, under Lodovico Flangini, and an Ottoman fleet, was fought near Imbros in the Aegean Sea. Nevertheless, the island's residents continued to live in relative peace and prosperity until the 20th century. The population lived modest lives in subsistence economies and were not involved in upheavals, for instance, the Greek War of Independence (1821-1832).

"Although Greek bandits attacked [...] and landed in Imvros and Lemnos in order to take sustenance support, the islanders did not help them so that Ottoman troops drove back the rebellions."<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Başbakanlık Osmanlı Arşivi (BOA), Hattı Hümayun (HAT) 862/38465, 3 Rebiülahir 1236 (8 January 1821); BOA, HAT 750/35418, 1 Zilhicce 1236 (30 August 1821); HAT 663/32280, 1 Zilhicce 1236 (30 August 1821); Feridun Emecen, "Limni," İslam Ansiklopedisi, Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı, vol. 27, p. 191.</ref>

Only in 1864 with the promulgation of the new Vilâyet Law was the administrative status of the island in regard to the central government defined. Two administrative districts were formed—the Kazâ/Jurisdiction of İmroz and Bozcaada of the Sanjak/District of Lemnos, a subdivision of the larger province of Eyalet/Administrative Division of the Islands of the Aegean Sea. Prominent Ottoman politician, Ismail Qemal Bej Vlora, who spent about a year during the mid-1870s superintending the workings of a lignite mine upon the island, remarked that:

"The sole authority in the place was the müdür (a sort of mayor appointed by the Government [whose attributions included tax collection, executing the court sentences, and at times mediation of disputes and pacification of the locals]), who was a charming Albanian, and more like the father of this island family than a representative of government. There were four or five gendarmes recruited from among the Greeks of the country, who did not even know where their arms were, so little did they ever find need of using them —and it is doubtful if they would have known how to if the occasion had arisen...We passed whole weeks without communication with the outside world. No telegrams came, nor couriers, nor newspapers, nor anything else to disturb our hermit's life amid this beautiful scenery and among a population that is perhaps the quietest and simplest in the world. There are no pleasures there except the songs of young Greeks and the country dances."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In 1912 during the First Balkan War, the Greek Navy invaded the island. The island had an absolute Greek majority population of 8,506 people then.<ref>Ίμβρος και Τένεδος, δύο ξεχασμένα ελληνικά νησιά (1910–1930), p.23</ref> After the signing of the Treaty of Athens in 1913, all of the Aegean islands except Bozcaada and Gökçeada were ceded to Greece.

First World WarEdit

File:Australian Army Service Corps wagons loading bread at the 1st Australian Field Bakery, at Imbros.jpg
Australian Army Service Corps wagons loading bread at the First Australian Field Bakery, at Imbros (c.1915)

In 1915, Imbros played an important role as a staging post for the allied Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, prior to and during the invasion of the Gallipoli peninsula. A field hospital, airfield and administrative and stores buildings were constructed on the island. In particular, many ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) soldiers were based at Imbros during the Gallipoli campaign, and the island was used as an air and naval base by ANZAC, British, and French forces against Turkey. The headquarters of General Ian Hamilton were on Imbros.<ref>Template:Google books</ref>

On 20 January 1918, a naval action (see Battle of Imbros (1918)) took place in the Aegean near the island when an Ottoman squadron engaged a flotilla of the British Royal Navy.

Patrick Shaw-Stewart wrote his famous poem "Achilles in the Trench", one of the best-known war poems of the First World War, while he was on Imbros. He seemed to enjoy speaking ancient Greek to the inhabitants of Imbros. In one of his letters he wrote: "here I am, living in a Greek village and talking the language of Demosthenes to the inhabitants (who are really quite clever at taking my meaning)."<ref>Template:Google books</ref>

Between Turkey and GreeceEdit

Between November 1912 and September 1923, Imbros, together with Tenedos, were under the administration of the Greek navy. Both islands were overwhelmingly ethnically Greek, and in the case of Imbros the population was entirely Greek.<ref name="Alexandris"/>

Negotiations to end the Balkan war started in December 1912 in London and the issue of the Aegean islands was one persistent problem. The issue divided the great powers with Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy supporting the Ottoman position for return of all the Aegean islands and Britain and France supporting the Greek position for Greek control of all the Aegean islands.<ref name="Kaldis">Template:Cite journal</ref> With Italy controlling key islands in the region, major power negotiations deadlocked in London and later in Bucharest. Romania threatened military action with the Greeks against the Ottomans in order to force negotiations in Athens in November 1913.<ref name="Kaldis" /> Eventually, Greece and the United Kingdom pressured the Germans to support an agreement where the Ottomans would retain Tenedos, Kastelorizo and Imbros and the Greeks would control the other Aegean islands. The Greeks accepted the plan while the Ottoman Empire rejected the ceding of the other Aegean islands.<ref name="Kaldis" /> This agreement would not hold, but the outbreak of World War I and the Turkish War of Independence put the issue to the side.

During World War I Gallipoli Campaign, the British used the island as a supply base and built a 600-metre-long airstrip for military operations.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In 1920, the Treaty of Sèvres with the defeated Ottoman Empire granted the island to Greece. The Ottoman government, which signed but did not ratify the treaty, was overthrown by the new Turkish nationalist Government of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, based in Ankara. After the Greco-Turkish War ended in Greek defeat in Anatolia, and the fall of Lloyd George and his Middle Eastern policies, the western powers agreed to the Treaty of Lausanne with the new Turkish Republic, in 1923. This treaty made the island part of Turkey; but it guaranteed a special autonomous administrative status for Imbros and Tenedos to accommodate the Greeks, and excluded them from the population exchange that took place between Greece and Turkey, due to their presence there as a majority.<ref>See link to the text of the Treaty of Lausanne, below</ref> Article 14 of the treaty provided specific guarantees safeguarding the rights of minorities in both the nations.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>


Additional population settlements from Anatolia occurred in 1973, 1984 and 2000. The state provided special credit opportunities and agricultural aid in kind to those who would decide to settle in the island.<ref>Babul, 2004: 5-6</ref> New settlements were created and existing settlements were renamed with Turkish names.<ref name="Al-monitor"/> The island itself was officially renamed to Gökçeada in 1970.<ref name="Al-monitor"/>

In 1991, Turkish authorities ended the military status on the island.<ref name="Helsinki_Watch_Report_1992">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>


In November 2019, a team of archaeologists led by Burçin Erdogan unearthed an approximately 8,000-year-old T-shaped obelisk in the Uğurlu-Zeytinlik mound. The monument made of two parts connected by seven-meter long walls reminds standing stones in Göbekli Tepe archeological site.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

GeographyEdit

File:Gokceada4.JPG
Mountains of Imbros, with the highest mountain, the extinct cone-shaped volcano İlyas Dağ, on the right

GeologyEdit

Imbros is mainly of volcanic origin and the highest mountain of the island İlyas Dağ, is an extinct cone-shaped stratovolcano.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

EarthquakesEdit

Imbros is situated directly south of the North Anatolian Fault, lying within the Anatolian Plate very close to the boundary between the Aegean Sea and Eurasian Plates. This fault zone, which runs from northeastern Anatolia to the northern Aegean Sea, has been responsible for several deadly earthquakes, including in Istanbul, Izmit and Imbros among others, and is a major threat to the island.

On the days of 20–21 August 1859, Imbros experienced some pre-earthquake tremors. The most catastrophic earthquake hit the island at 04:00 on the morning of the August 21, followed by a series of aftershocks—which were recorded to have had lasted until at least January 1860—the most severe of which were recorded at 16:15, 16:25, and 16:35 of the same day. The damage from these tremors was quite significant, as is evident in the descriptions provided from the newspaper, Αμάλθεια (Amalthea), and Schmidt. The publication, Αμάλθεια stated that:

"All the houses in the villages of Παναγία, Γλυκύ, Αγρίδια and Σχοινούδι of Ίμβρος collapsed or suffered cracks from the main earthquake and the three strong aftershocks that followed. The inhabitants remained on the streets and in the fields, without daring to approach the ruins, to get their furniture. Crying and mourning were heard everywhere. The first earthquake knocked down tiles and all the chimneys of the houses. After that the inhabitants left their homes. During the second earthquake, all the houses suffered cracks. The third earthquake caused the collapse of all houses, windmills, watermills, bakeries, and cafes, while churches were severely damaged, but did not collapse. The number of houses that fell was 1400. In various areas, cracks were observed in the ground, from which salt water gushed out, with fine sand. Massive rocks fell from the mountains. The villages of Αγίου Θεοδώρου suffered minor damage. Besides, in Samothrace, these earthquakes were also felt, but no damage was recorded. The same in Τένεδος. In Λήμνος on the contrary, some damage was caused, but it is not known how much. In Λήμνος, however, new sources appeared. In Ίμβρος, the earthquakes continued until the 23rd of the month, but none of the residents were killed."

Schmidt writes that he derives his information about the earthquake mainly from a letter he received in January 1860, after the mediation of Professor Μητσόπουλου, from the deacon Βαρνάβα Κουτλουμουσιανό—an eyewitness to the earthquake. In this letter, it is mentioned that:

"It seems that there were no human losses, but in all areas of the island the destruction was great, as many houses and churches were destroyed. Some springs have disappeared, while others have appeared in areas that were previously dry. There were also cracks in the ground, from which mud with a strong sulphur odour came. The earthquake preceded a violent thunder from the north-east."

On 24 May 2014, Imbros was shaken by a strong earthquake with a magnitude of 6.9 MW. 30 people were injured and numerous old houses were damaged, some of them irreparably. A major earthquake is expected to occur along this fault line in the near future.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> Minor noticeable earthquakes are common.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

ClimateEdit

The island has a Mediterranean climate with warm and dry summers, and wet and cool winters. Although summer is the driest season, some rainfall does occur in summer. Snow and ground frost are not uncommon in winter.

Template:Weather box

TownEdit

File:ImbrosTenedos 2.svg
Location of Imbros (Gökçeada) and Tenedos (Bozcaada)
File:View of artificial lake from Tepeköy village, Gökçeada, Turkey - 20050713.jpg
View of Imbros' artificial lake from the village of Tepeköy
Çınarlı
Çınarlı (also known as "Gökçeada" or "Merkez" meaning "center") is the only town on Imbros, known as Panaghia Balomeni (Παναγία Μπαλωμένη) in Greek; there is a small airport nearby.

VillagesEdit

Most of the settlements on Imbros were given Turkish names in 1926.

Bademli köyü
Older Greek name is Gliky (Γλυκύ). It is located to the northeast of the island, between Çınarlı town and Kaleköy/Kastro.
Dereköy
Older Greek name is Schoinoudi (Σχοινούδι). It is located at the center of the west side of island. Due to the emigration of the Greek population (largely to Australia and the USA; some to Greece and Istanbul before the 1970s), Dereköy is largely empty today. However, many people return on every 15 August for the festival of the Virgin Mary.
Eşelek / Karaca köyü
It is located at the southeast of the island. It is an agricultural area that produces fruit and vegetables.
Kaleköy
Older name is Kastro (Κάστρο) (Latin and Greek for castle). Located on the north-eastern coast of island, there is an antique castle near the village. Kaleköy also has a small port which was constructed by the French Navy during the occupation of the island in the First World War, and is now used for fishing-boats and yachts.
Şahinkaya köyü
It is located near Dereköy.
Şirinköy
It is located in the southwest of island.
Tepeköy
Older Greek name is Agridia (Αγρίδια). It is located in the north of the island, and is home to the largest Greek population among all villages. İlyas Dağ, an extinct volcano located to the south of the village, has an elevation of Template:Convert, which makes it the highest point of the island.
Uğurlu köyü
It is located in the west of the island.
Yeni Bademli köyü
It is located at the center-northeast of the island, near Bademli. It has many motels and pensions.
Yenimahalle
Older Greek name is Evlampion (Ευλάμπιον). It is located near the town of Çınarlı on the road to Kuzulimanı port.
Zeytinliköy
Older Greek name is Agios Theodoros (Άγιος Θεόδωρος). Demetrios Archontonis, known as Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, was born there on 29 February 1940. The village has beautiful historic Greek houses and gets its Turkish name from the surrounding olive groves (Zeytinli köy meaning "Olive-ville" in Turkish.) The village is very popular among tourists during high season.
Others
Yeni Bademli köyü, Eşelek / Karaca köyü, Şahinkaya köyü, Şirinköy and Uğurlu köyü were established after 1970.

CittaslowEdit

Gökçeada is one of the eight "cittaslows" of Turkey and is the second in being accepted as one, after Seferihisar.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Places to seeEdit

  • Aydıncık/Kefaloz (Kefalos) beach: Best location for windsurfingTemplate:Citation needed
  • Kapıkaya (Stenos) beach:
  • Kaşkaval peninsula / (Kaskaval): Scuba diving
  • Kuzulimanı (Haghios Kyrikas): Ferryport with 24-hour ferries to GeliboluKabatepe port and Çanakkale port.
  • Mavikoy/Bluebay: The first national underwater park in Turkey.<ref name="tudav">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}Template:Dead link</ref> Scuba diving allowed for recreational purposes.

  • Marmaros beach: Also has a small waterfall.
  • Pınarbaşı (Spilya) beach: Longest (and most sandy) beach on the island.

EnvironmentEdit

Gökçeada (imroz) sheepEdit

This ancient native breed of sheep is named after the island where it was established. The sheep is suitable for milk and meat. Outside the island, it is still farmed in Çanakkale.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

MarineEdit

Water from the Black and Marmara Seas mixing with the warmer saltier water of the Aegean Sea supports a rich marine ecosystem.<ref name="ÇOMÜ 1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

WindEdit

Offshore<ref>Template:Cite bookTemplate:Dead link</ref> wind power may be developed in future. At the moment, there are some wind turbines generating energy on the island.

IssuesEdit

Environmental issues include litter.

EconomyEdit

Swordfish are caught in season.<ref name="ÇOMÜ 1" />

PopulationEdit

Greek populationEdit

The island was primarily inhabited by ethnic Greeks from ancient times through to approximately the 1960s. Data dating from 1922 taken under Greek rule and 1927 data taken under Turkish rule showed a strong majority of Greek inhabitants on Imbros, and the Greek Orthodox Church had a strong presence on the island.<ref name="Alexandris"/> The Turkish census of 1927 states that the island's population was almost exclusively Greek Orthodox and numbered 6,762 (with only 157 of them being Turks).<ref name="Crossing the Aegea_p.120">Template:Cite book</ref>

Article 14 of the Treaty of Lausanne (1923) exempted Imbros and Tenedos from the large-scale population exchange that took place between Greece and Turkey, and required Turkey to accommodate the local Greek majority and their rights:

The islands of Imbros and Tenedos, remaining under Turkish sovereignty, shall enjoy a special administrative organisation composed of local elements and furnishing every guarantee for the native non-Moslem population insofar as concerns local administration and the protection of persons and property. The maintenance of order will be assured therein by a police force recruited from amongst the local population by the local administration above provided for and placed under its orders.

However, the treaty provisions relating to administrative autonomy for Imbros and protections of minority populations was never implemented by the Turkish government."<ref name="Human Rights Watch">Template:Cite book</ref> The result was a significant decline in the Greek population of the island.<ref name="Human Rights Watch" />

A diaspora of approximately 15,000 Imbriots based mostly in Greece maintains strong links to the island.<ref name="Al-monitor" /> However, large populations of Imbriots reside in Australia, South Africa, Turkey, Egypt, the Americas, and Western Europe.

Human rightsEdit

File:Gokceada zeytinli coffee.JPG
Co-owner of the famous "Madam'ın Dibek Kahvesi" in Aghios Theodoros (Zeytinli), Imbros. Circa 2005.

The following grievances apply particularly to Imbros:

  • On 4 October 1923, following the installation of Turkish authorities on the island, the elected government of the island were dismissed, and installed mainlanders. At the same time, 1,500 Imbriots who had taken refuge from the Turkish War of Independence on Lemnos and in Thessaloniki were classified as personae non gratae, denied the right to return, and their property was confiscated.<ref>Template:Cite thesis</ref>
  • With the passing of Law 1151 on 25 June 1927, the system of local administration on Imbros was abolished, closed the Greek schools, and prohibited instruction in the language. In 1952–3, the Greek Imbriots were permitted to build new ones, closed again in 1964. Since 2013, the decision to restrict the use of the Greek language in instruction has been reversed.<ref name=Committee/>
  • In 1943, Turkey arrested the Metropolitan of Imbros and Tenedos with other Orthodox clerics. They also confiscated the lands on Imbros belonging to the monasteries of Great Lavra and Koutloumousiou on Mount Athos, expelled the tenants, and installed settlers; when the Mayor of Imbros and four village elders protested, they were arrested and sent to the mainland.Template:Citation needed
  • Between 1964 and 1984, almost all the usable land on Imbros had been expropriated (98% by 1990), for inadequate compensation, for an army camp, a minimum-security prison, reforestation projects, a dam project, and a national park.<ref name=Committee>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

  • Nikolas Palaiopoulos, a town councilor, was arrested and imprisoned in 1962 for complaining to the Greek Ambassador on the latter's visit to Imbros; he, together with the Mayor of Imbros and 20 others, was imprisoned again in 1974.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
  • Between
  • The old Cathedral at Kastro (Kaleköy) was desecrated on the night of the Turkish landing on Cyprus in 1974; the present Cathedral was looted in March 1993; criminal activities have included a number of rapes and murders, officially blamed on convicts and soldiers, but none of them has been solved.Template:Citation needed
  • Through the latter half of the 20th century, the Turkish government implemented a program to settle Turkish people from Anatolia <ref name="dunya.com">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> on Imbros and Tenedos (Bozcaada).<ref name="Al-monitor"/>

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Population change in ImbrosEdit

Discrimination against the island's Greek population as well as geopolitical tensions have led to the Greeks emigrating from both islands, the peak of this exodus occurring in 1974, when Turkey invaded Cyprus.<ref name="Babul" /> According to 1927 Population Census, Imbros population was 6,555 Greeks, and 157 Turks; in contrast at the 2000 Population Census the Greeks had become a minority on the island.<ref name="Ashgate Studies in Pilgrimage">Template:Cite book</ref> In 2000, there were around 400 Greeks, while there were around 8000 Turks.<ref name="Eade">Template:Cite book In 2014 there were around 300 Greeks and 8,344 Turks.</ref> Most of the former Greeks of Imbros and Tenedos are in diaspora in Greece, the United States, and Australia.<ref>Struggle for Justice, pp.33-73; they ascribe the resettlement program to an article in the Turkish magazine "Nokta".</ref>

In September 2015, a Greek school on Imbros was reopened after 51 years of prohibition of Greek education. Template:As of, there were 14 students, only one of whom was born on the island, the rest from diaspora families that returned to the island.<ref name="Al-monitor"/> In addition, a member of the Greek community is serving on the Imbros municipal police force Template:As of.<ref name="Al-monitor"/>

By 2019, the Greek population of the island had increased to 400, mainly due to increasing numbers of returnees from the diaspora.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> There are now 3 Greek schools with 53 students.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Template:Legend Template:Legend

Town and villages<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

}} Gökçeada Municipality official page</ref><ref>Alanur Çavlin Bozbeyoğlu, Işıl Onan, "Changes in the demographic characteristics of Gökçeada" Template:Webarchive</ref>|| style="background:#cfc;" colspan="2"|1893<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Kemal Karpat (1985), Ottoman Population, 1830-1914, Demographic and Social Characteristics, The University of Wisconsin Press, p. 130-131</ref>|| style="background:#cfc;" colspan="2"|1927|| style="text-align:center; background:#cfc;" colspan="2"|1970|| style="text-align:center; background:#cfc;" colspan="2"|1975|| style="text-align:center; background:#cfc;" colspan="2"|1980|| style="text-align:center; background:#cfc;" colspan="2"|1985|| style="text-align:center; background:#cfc;" colspan="2"|1990|| style="text-align:center; background:#cfc;" colspan="2"|1997|| style="text-align:center; background:#cfc;" colspan="2"|2000|| style="text-align:center; background:#cfc;" colspan="2"|2018

Çınarlı (Παναγιά/Panagiá) - - - - 3578 615 3806 342 4251 216 767 70 721 40 553 26 503 29 490 41
Bademli (Γλυκύ/Glyký) - - - - 66 144 1 57 40 1 13 34 29 22 15 15 15 13 11 17
Dereköy (Σχοινούδι/Schoinoúdi) - - - - 73 672 391 378 319 214 380 106 99 68 82 40 68 42 63 50
Eşelek - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 152 - 170 -
Fatih - - - - - - - - - - 3962 45 4284 32 4135 21 4180 25 4300 32
Kaleköy (Κάστρο/Kástro) - - - - 38 36 24 - - 128 94 - 105 - 90 - 89 - 84 -
Şahinkaya - - - - - - - - - - - - 168 - 107 - 86 - 95 -
Şirinköy - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 189 - 200 -
Tepeköy, Gökçeada (Αγρίδια/Agrídia) - - - - 3 504 4 273 2 193 1 110 75 2 2 39 2 42 25 140
Uğurlu (Λιβούνια / Livoúnia) - - - - - - - - - - 460 - 490 - 466 - 401 - 420 -
Yenibademli - - - - - - - - - - 416 - 660 - 628 - 581 - 595 -
Yenimahalle (Ευλάμπιον/Evlámpion) - - - - 182 143 162 121 231 81 359 59 970 27 2240 25 2362 27 2600 30
Zeytinliköy (Άγιοι Θεόδωροι/Ágioi Theódoroi) - - - - 30 507 15 369 36 235 72 162 25 130 12 82 12 76 25 110
TOTAL 99 9,357 157 6555 3970 2621 4403 1540 4879 1068 6524 586 7626 321 8330 248 8640 226 8983 420

CultureEdit

[[File:Bartolomeo I.jpg|thumb|[[Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople|Ecumenical Patriarch BartholomewTemplate:NbspI]] was born in the village of Aghios Theodoros (Zeytinliköy)]]

A Turkish documentary of 2013, Rüzgarlar (Winds), by Selim Evci, is focused on the discriminatory government policies of the 1960s against the Greek population.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Another Turkish film, My Grandfather's People, is based on the population exchange between Turkey and Greece in 1923. Among other places, some scenes were filmed in Imbros.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Notable people from ImbrosEdit

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See alsoEdit

ReferencesEdit

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Further readingEdit

  • The struggle for justice : 1923–1993 : 70 years of Turkish provocation and violations of the Treaty of Lausanne : a chronicle of human rights violations; Citizen's Association of Constantinople-Imvros-Tenedos-Eastern Thrace of Thrace. Komotini (1993)
  • "Greeks look to revive identity on Gökçeada" in Hürriyet Daily News, 22 August 2011.
  • Papers presented to the II. National Symposium on the Aegean Islands, 2–3 July 2004, Gökçeada, Çanakkale.
  • Template:Cite book

External linksEdit

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Template:Districts of Turkey Template:Aegean Sea Template:Islands of Turkey Template:Authority control