Talk:Snake Island (Black Sea)

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WikiProject Echo has identified Snake Island (Black Sea) as a foreign language featured article. You may be able to improve this article with information from the Ukrainian language Wikipedia.

WikiProject Echo has identified Snake Island (Black Sea) as a foreign language featured article. You may be able to improve this article with information from the Romanian language Wikipedia.

Contents 1 Geography 2 History 3 Possession 4 Page title

[edit] Geography

Fixed some geographic mistakes. People, I don't have maps etc. but I've seen TV pictures from the isle many times. It is not "5 square kilometers" ANYWAY (otherwise Romanians wouldn't call it a cliff). Thus, there are no place for "1000 fishermen" (also, there was no pier there as of 2003). I estimate it's under 500 meters long (any side). That is why I call it "the isle" in the text. AlexPU 17:08, 2 Aug 2004 (UTC)

[edit] History

I found ancient history remarks little doubtfull, but didn't change significantly since I'm no expert. AlexPU 17:08, 2 Aug 2004 (UTC)

I found these references:

"The White Isle also a place where some were sent after death?was supposed to be a wooded island at the mouths of the river Ister (Danube)." [1]

"The legends seem to carry a grain of truth as the ruins of the famous temple dedicated to Achilles were found by captain Kritziky in 1823. Square in shape, with the side of 29.87 meters, the building is great. The temple dedicated to Achilles was erected east of the sanctuary. The architecture of the construction and of the other ruins found on the island is specific to the epoch called Cyclopean, resembling the masonry found in Thessaly and Thrace." [2]

Bogdan | Talk 20:22, 2 Aug 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Possession

Deopinionated items concerning the territorial dispute, but didn't delete anything. Ukrainian government's POV is not presented. Hope to add it ASAP. AlexPU 17:08, 2 Aug 2004 (UTC)

OK. I couldn't find their POV.

People, I shaped the factual details in an NPOV way. I remember that bank opening newscast - it definitely had nothing to do with "proving" (let's not arrogate journalists' comments to the heroes of their story). Also reshuffled the categories. And more: do we need the following passage:

The nearest city on the coast is Sulina, Romania.?

I mean if this is a conventional geographical info on islands than it's OK. If not - I'm going to remove it as irrelevant and clearly designed to promote Romanian POV). Keen to maintain editing peace, AlexPU

The 1997 treaty confirmed the borders of 1947, but did not say that the island belongs to Ukraine. Romania agreed that for now the island is under Ukrainian administration (which is not the same thing) and that it will not pursue any unilateral means to gain control of the island and will do so only through diplomatic chanels. Constantzeanu 02:05, 31 January 2006 (UTC)

OK, after getting more info, I have drawn the following conclusion : Romania did say that the island is under Ukranian administration and that it will not try to get it from Ukraine unilatrally. However, Romania also claims that the island is a cliff, meaning that it does not have an island status as described by international law. This means that it is as if it did not even exist there. It is like a rock in the sea. The Romanians have concentrated on proving that Serpents Is. is not a an island (as defined by int. law) and if it can do so then it can gain enough territorial waters that it can make the island part of Romania anyways. In any case here is a source which states that Ukraine was not supposed to inhabit the island (according to the 1997 treaty): [3] Constantzeanu 03:05, 31 January 2006 (UTC)

The text of 1997 Romania-Ukraine treaty is available (in Romanian and English) in the package submitted by Romania to ICJ [4]. It's also available (in Ukrainian) from the Ukrainian parliament website [5]. Constantzeanu, could you point out where in the treaty Ukraine agreed that the island should be "inhabited". Uapatriot 21:25, 31 January 2006 (UTC)

Wow, I never knew the treaty can be declared null after 10 years. In any case, I think that we are missing some annexes here or something. Because somehwere here they are supposed to talk about negotiations over territorial waters for 2 years but I don't see that anywhere. Constantzeanu 23:57, 31 January 2006 (UTC)

The island is located 35 km from the Ukrainian coast. Sulina is 45 km away. Reference: "Parliament courier" (in Ukrainian). Also, the island, the Black sea coast, and the Romania-Ukraine boarder are all visible on Google Map.

My error, in attempting to clarify language in the article, has been anonymously pointed out at my Talk Page: "You mentioned in the article that Romania is questioning Snake Island status in the International Court of Justice, but this information is not correct. According to the standing Romania-Ukraine treaties, Snake island is a part of Ukraine. Official Romania has only asked the court for Maritime Delimitation around Snake island [1], not questioning the belongings of the island. It's true that some parties in Romania do question the belongings of Snake island, but it should not be mixed with the official view of Romania." --Wetman 20:48, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

In 1997 Ukrainian-Romanian treaty the word "inhabited" cannot be found even using internal search. So the sentence claiming that Ukraine breaks such a condition of this treaty should be deleted. --Shao 20:17, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Page title

As it seems Snake Island (Black Sea) may also refer to a Bulgarian islet (currently at St. Thomas Island) that is also in the Black Sea, so the name is quite ambigious. The Bulgarian islet is actually more often referred to as Snake Island than St. Thomas Island. Any suggestions as to how to solve the problem? Does putting a disambiguation note on top of this article seem enough? Todor Bozhinov  → 18:50, 30 May 2006 (UTC)