I suppose most of the islands are pretty barren, but wouldn't Turkey understand the tourism potential? It also seems odd to have the territory of a testy neighbor positioned so strangely. One particular example I'd like to know about is a tiny island called Kastellorizo, which is 125km from the nearest other Greek island but only 4km offshore from Turkey.
Hi! I have a follow-up. I did a little research and figured out the Dodecanese (including Kastellorizo, which I asked about) were captured by Italy in 1912. Italy then "promised" to return them to the Ottoman Empire, but apparently never did, and then when the Ottoman Empire became Turkey it ceded its claim to the islands. Then, decades later, Italy ceded the islands to Greece as a concession for losing WW2. So, with all of that aside, why did Turkey never make a claim on the Dodecanese during this time?