{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2021}} {{short description|Turkish prison island in the Sea of Marmara}} {{Redirect|Besbicus|the North American wasps|Besbicus (wasp)}} {{Infobox islands | name = İmralı | image_name = İmralı Adası (cropped).jpeg | image_caption = Aerial photograph of İmralı | image_size = | map_image = Imrali location.jpg | map_caption = | native_name = | native_name_link = | nickname = | location = Sea of Marmara | pushpin_map = Turkey Marmara#Turkey | pushpin_label_position = top | pushpin_map_alt = | pushpin_map_caption = Location of İmralı within Marmara Region##Location of İmralı within Turkey | coordinates = {{coord|40|32|15|N|28|32|06|E|type:isle|display=inline,title}} | archipelago = | area_km2 = 9.98 | coastline_km = 19.4 | highest_mount = Türk Tepesi | elevation_m = 217 | country_admin_divisions_title = Region | country_admin_divisions = Marmara region | country_admin_divisions_title_1 = Province | country_admin_divisions_1 = Bursa Province | country_admin_divisions_title_2 = District | country_admin_divisions_2 = Mudanya | country = Turkey | population = | population_as_of = | density_km2 = | ethnic_groups = | additional_info = | website = }}
'''İmralı''' is a small Turkish prison island in the south of the Sea of Marmara, west of the Armutlu-Bozburun peninsula within Bursa Province. It measures {{convert|8|km|0|abbr=off}} in the north–south direction with a width of {{convert|3|km|0|abbr=off}}, and has an area of {{convert|9.98|km²|2|abbr=out}}. The highest peak is ''Türk Tepesi'' at an altitude of {{convert|217|m|0|abbr=off}} above sea level. It is prohibited to fly over it or fish near its shores.
== Myth == According to the legend, the island was created by Persephone and was named either after a giant or after a Pelasgian settler; the name was Besbikos/Besbicus (Βέσβικος). According to the story, the Giants tore off large sections of coastline and dragged them through the sea. Their plan was to block the mouth of the river Rhyndakos with these massive rock formations. However, Persephone, in order to protect Cyzicus, anchored these rocks to the seabed instead, causing them to become fixed in place and form an island. On the island, the settler named Besbikos, together with Heracles, fought and killed the remaining Giants.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/STEPHANUSBYZANTIUSETHNICAvol.AALPHAGAMMA2006ByMargaretheBillerbeck/page/342/mode/2up Stephanus of Byzantium, Ethnica, p.342-343, 79]</ref>
== History == In antiquity, it was a member of the Delian League since it appears in tribute records of Athens between 434/3 and 418/7 BCE.<ref name=Poleis>{{cite book|author= Mogens Herman Hansen & Thomas Heine Nielsen |title= An inventory of archaic and classical poleis|url= https://archive.org/details/inventoryarchaic00hans |url-access= limited |year= 2004|publisher= Oxford University Press|location=New York|isbn= 0-19-814099-1|page= [https://archive.org/details/inventoryarchaic00hans/page/n994 978]}}</ref> During the ancient times the island was called '''Besbicus''' ({{langx|grc|Βέσβικος}}),<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=wB0QAAAAYAAJ&dq=The+geography+of+Strabo+besbicus&pg=PA395 Sir William Smith, ed. ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography'', vol. 1 (London: John Murray, 1872) p. 395.]</ref> while in Mediaeval times, it was known as '''Calonymus''' ({{langx|el|Καλώνυμος}}).
The Turkish name ''İmralı'' derives from the name of the island's conqueror, Emir Ali, one of the first Ottoman admirals. In 1308 İmralı became the first island to be conquered by the newly established Ottoman Navy. Its strategic location enabled the Ottomans to control the movement of ships in the Sea of Marmara with a naval base established on it, cutting the Byzantine Empire's connection to Bursa. The island is also referred as "Mir Ali" in Ottoman documents. The island was also a place of refuge for the runaways of the Devshirme System. For example in 1567, a group of runaways was protected and hidden by the locals of Mir Ali Island while the batches of children were being transported from the port of Dutlimanı in Bandırma.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Yılmaz |first=Gülay |date=2015-12-01 |title=The Devshirme System and the Levied Children of Bursa in 1603–4 |url=https://belleten.gov.tr/doi/10.37879/belleten.2015.901 |journal=Belleten |language=tr |volume=79 |issue=286 |pages=901–930 |doi=10.37879/belleten.2015.901 |issn=0041-4255|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
In 1913, the island had 250 houses, a school, three monasteries, and 1,200 residents, all of whom were Greeks. The economic activity of the island's residents consisted mainly of fishing and farming onions, with most of the grown onions sold to Istanbul. There were three Greek villages on the island, engaged mostly in growing grapes, winemaking, silk production and fishing, until the Turkish War of Independence (1919–1923). One well-known islander was Kimon Friar who emigrated to the United States and became a scholar and translator of Greek language poetry.<ref>[http://www.acgart.gr/acg-collection/artists/F/FriK/FriK-bio.htm American College of Greece] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071013013406/http://www.acgart.gr/acg-collection/artists/F/FriK/FriK-bio.htm |date=13 October 2007 }}</ref> The island was depopulated by the 1923 forced population exchange between Greece and Turkey and remained uninhabited for thirteen years.
In 1936, the Turkish government opened a newly semi-open prison,<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Sipahi|first=Ali|date=2016|title=Convict Labor in Turkey, 1936–1953: A Capitalist Corporation in the State?|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43956708|journal=International Labor and Working-Class History|issue=90|pages=246|jstor=43956708 |issn=0147-5479}}</ref> where the prisoners earned money by working in agriculture and fishing. Following the 1960 Turkish coup d'état, the deposed Prime Minister Adnan Menderes was imprisoned, tortured, and executed on the island.<ref>{{cite web |title=May 27: A dark military coup in Turkey |url=https://www.trtworld.com/magazine/may-27-a-dark-military-coup-in-turkey-36686 |website=TRT World |publisher=Turkish Radio and Television Corporation |access-date=2 August 2023}}</ref> From 1999 until 2009, the now-maximum-security prison housed a single inmate, Abdullah Öcalan, the leader of the PKK.<ref>{{Cite web|date=17 November 2009|title=PKK leader Ocalan gets company in prison|url=https://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2009/11/17/PKK-leader-Ocalan-gets-company-in-prison/17541258484776/|access-date=9 June 2021|website=United Press International|language=en}}</ref> All the other prisoners on the island had been transferred to mainland Turkey.<ref>{{Cite web|last=King|first=Laura|date=1 March 1999|title=Ocalan Affecting Turkish Town|url=https://apnews.com/article/676376964266334bc0a76ecc583613ef|access-date=9 June 2021|website=Associated Press}}</ref> In November 2009, several other prisoners, including four members of the PKK and one TKP/ML, were transferred to a newly constructed building.
There is now a military base on the island and the surrounding area is a forbidden zone.
== References == {{reflist}}
== Sources == * {{in lang|tr}} [http://www.turkcebilgi.com/%DDmral%FD_Adas%FD Brief history] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20121208155900/http://www.turkcebilgi.com/%DDmral%FD_Adas%FD |date=8 December 2012 }} * {{in lang|tr}} [http://meleklerinadasi.com/modules.php?name=Encyclopedia&op=content&tid=1419 On the island]{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} * {{in lang|tr}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20050625082601/http://www.dallog.com/tdsa/hukumdarlar/osmangazi.htm Brief history] * {{in lang|tr}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20070320202354/http://www.kenthaber.com/IlDetay.aspx?ID=567 About the name of the island]
== External links == *{{commons category-inline}}
{{Islands of Turkey}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Imrali}} Category:Islands of the Sea of Marmara Category:Islands of Turkey Category:Prisons in Turkey Category:Islands of Bursa Province Category:Prison islands Category:Members of the Delian League Category:Mudanya