Turkey's Responses to Greek Claims: Part-2
Lemnos and Samothrace belonging to Greece and Imroz and Bozcaada belonging to Turkey are the "Boğazönü" islands. These islands, which control the entrance to Çanakkale, are demilitarized islands in accordance with Article 4 of the Lausanne Straits Convention. The Montreux Convention has made a provision that only Gökçeada, İmroz and Bozcaada can be armed. He did not mention Lemnos and Samothrace.
I will deal with the problems between Greece and Turkey under the main headings as listed in our first article.
1. Arming of Aegean Islands in Non-Military Status:
In accordance with the international agreements (Six Great Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy, Russia, France and England) dated 13 February 1914, the Lausanne Treaty of 23 July 1923 and the Paris Agreement signed on 10 February 1947), Greece's Thasos, Boğazönü Islands ( Bozbaba, Samothrace, Limnos), Saruhan Islands (Ipsara, Lesbos, Chios, Samos, Ahikerya) and Menteşe Islands (Istanbul, Rhodes, Herke, Kerpe, Shepherd, Ileki, İncirli, Kelemez, Ileryoz, Batnoz, Lipso, Symbeki, Kos and the islands that are connected with them and the Meis Island opposite Kaş) will only have law enforcement officers, no armed forces and will not make fortifications.
The Montreux Convention, signed in 1936, did not bring any change other than the status of the Turkish Straits. The source of the problem is that Greece has started to arm the islands since 1964 and efforts to include Lemnos in NATO military plans and exercises.
a. Bogazonu Islands:
Limnos and Samothrace belonging to Greece and Imroz and Bozcaada belonging to Turkey are the "Boğazönü" islands. These islands, which control the entrance to Çanakkale, are demilitarized islands according to Article 4 of the Lausanne Straits Convention.
Greek Claim:
The Montreux Convention abolished the demilitarization status of the Boğazönü Islands. Montreux replaced the Straits Convention, which dictated the demilitarized status of Lausanne's Boğazönü Islands. Montreux revoked the demilitarized status of the Straits and abolished the demilitarized status of the islands. The conditions at the time of the treaties changed radically (rebus sic stantibus). No restrictions that would limit Greece's sovereign rights over the Bosphorus Islands and prevent it from having soldiers are no longer valid. The Straits regime has changed. As the Straits are re-armed, Lemnos and Samothrace, which are part of this system, can also be armed.
Invalidity of Claim:
The Montreux Convention allowed Turkey to arm the Straits. However, it did not change the situation of Lemnos and Samothrace belonging to Greece. No provision was made in this convention regarding the termination of the demilitarized status of these two islands. However, the demilitarized status of Bozcaada, Gökçeada and Rabbit Islands, which were left to Turkish sovereignty in the Straits Convention, which is an annex to the Treaty of Lausanne, was abolished with Montreux. This new situation brought with Montreux has not been made valid for Lemnos and Samothrace belonging to Greece.
Montreux has amended the Annex of the Treaty of Lausanne on the Straits. However, Article 12 of Lausanne was retained. Accordingly, Lausanne confirmed the disarmed status of these islands as per the decision taken by six states in 1914.
As stated by Turkish Foreign Minister Tevfik Rüştü Aras in his speech at the Grand National Assembly of Turkey in 1936, and then conveyed through the Turkish Ambassador to Athens with the instruction of the Turkish Government, the point that Greece may have soldiers in Lemnos and Samothrace is valid for the short term. It did not have continuity and was not tied to any agreement. This should only be seen as a goodwill declaration of Turkey against Greece within the framework of the conditions of the period.
Greece issued a Royal Decree in 1937, declaring these islands a 'fortified surveillance zone'. According to the Greek claim, Turkey did not object to this decree, so the demilitarized status of these islands was abolished in 1937. The Greek claim, which seems correct at first glance, is again based on a one-sided statement. Moreover, Turkey objected to the militarization of the islands by Greece in 1969, in violation of the treaties. In its reply note, Greece openly mentioned the Lemnos Island and informed Turkey that it did not make any fortifications on these islands contrary to the treaties. This declaration also proved that the 1937 decree was invalid.
In the meantime, after Greece became a member of NATO together with Turkey in 1952, it started to bring to the agenda of NATO platforms that especially the Lemnos Island should be armed with the claim that it would contribute greatly to the defense of the Turkish Straits and therefore NATO. Having soldiers in Lemnos, according to the Greek view, can be considered correct in terms of NATO, but it should be remembered that the British and French used Lemnos as a naval base during the Gallipoli Campaign in 1915 and blocked the Straits, which caused the Ottoman Empire to be unable to get out of the straits. In any Turkish-Greek war, Greece will have gained the superiority of the situation, such as preventing the entry and exit of Turkish warships through the Straits by using the naval, land and air bases of Greece to be located in Limnos. Turkish foreign policy makers should never forget that Greece's policy of arming Lemnos, even for NATO, poses a serious threat to Turkey's security and the de facto change of the Aegean's status quo.
In my next article, I will talk about the situation of Saruhan Islands and Dodecanese Islands.
(To be continued)
