İmralı

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İmralı is a small Turkish island located in the south of Sea of Marmara, west of Armutlu-Bozburun peninsula within the Bursa Province. It serves currently as a maximum-security prison island for its only inmate Abdullah Öcalan.

The island, measuring a length of 8 km in the north-south direction with a width of 3 km, has an area of 25 km². Highest peak is Türk Tepesi ("Turkish Hill") with 217 m altitude.

İmralı was conquered from the Byzantine Empire in 1308 by Emir Ali, the fleet commander of Orhan Gazi. (I think there is a mistake here. Orhan Gazi's rule does not start until 1326.) With a naval base established on it, the island, which was the first ever-captured island by Ottomans, enabled control of traffic in the Sea of Marmara, and cut the connection of Byzantines to Bursa. The name of the island İmralı is derived from the name of its conqueror Emir Ali, who was one of first admirals of the Ottomans.

Until the Turkish War of Independence (1919-1922) three Greek villages existed on the island. The islanders were engaged mostly in growing grapes, vinification, silk production and fishing. One well-known Greek from this island was Kimon Friar who would emigrate to the United States and become a scholar and translator of Greek language poetry. Following the population exchange between Greece and Turkey in 1923, the place stood vacant until 1935, when a semi-open category prison was built. The prisoners were allowed to earn money by doing agriculture and fishing. In 1999, after the capture of Abdullah Öcalan, the prison was emptied by sending the inmates to other prisons, and it was turned to a category A prison. There is also a military base on the island, and the area around the island is a forbidden zone.