Garip Island

Garip Island consists of two islands (the larger island is 88 acres) off the coast of Dikili ilçe in İzmir Province, Turkey. Together they are called the Garip Islands (Turkish: Garip Adaları), at the cut point of Dikili's Bademli Bay. Both islands face the Greek island of Lesbos. The islands are at 39°00′N 26°47′E, just to the west of Kalem Island. The distance between the two is about 500 metres (1,600 ft). It has a surface area of 357,731.84 square meters. The nearest point on the mainland (Anatolia) is about 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) to the north east. In antiquity these islands, along with a third island that has now joined the mainland, were known as the Arginusae; they were the site of the Battle of Arginusae in 406 BC. In Turkish Garip can mean ‘weird’, ‘strange’ or ‘desolate’ among other meanings.

Offered for sale under a single title deed in 2006, the islands were sold to Fiyapı, a Turkish development group in 2010. No construction was undertaken on the islands. In 2007 the Guardian newspaper in the UK published a story claiming that a group on the Greek island of Lesbos planned to buy the island, but the sale was never completed. Since 2016, the island is owned by the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund of Turkey. In 2015 an international group of archaeologists claimed that Garip Island was a lost island in the eastern Aegean that was once home to the ancient city of Kane (Canae).

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