Detached Yet Connected: Life and Tension Between the Dodecanese Islands and the Turkish Mainland in the Interwar Period

Abstract

This chapter shows that the formation of a vague border in the Aegean Sea after the transfer of the Dodecanese to Italy created legal and quotidian problems for the islanders. It reveals that these problems, ranging from property rights to fishing and sponge-diving rights, could not be solved within this period as constant tension reigned in the Aegean. However, the formation of a border did not mean the total disruption of the connection between the islands and the Anatolian mainland. On the contrary, the mobility of the islanders generated a constant challenge to the notion of a border, the constitution of which was apparently not only a political but also a social process. © 2025 selection and editorial matter, Valerie McGuire and Aron Rodrigue.