Demilitarized zone
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In military terms, a demilitarized zone (DMZ) is an area, usually the frontier or boundary between two or more groups, where military activity is not permitted, usually by treaty or other agreement. Often the demilitarized zone lies upon a line of control and forms a de-facto international border.
Demilitarized zones have also unintentionally become wildlife preserves as they cause the land which they sit on to be too dangerous for construction. See also Korean Demilitarized Zone.
Generally, "demilitarized" means converted to non-military use or purpose, returned to a civilian field. In such meaning the term is oftenly used in former Soviet countries both in Western and local (transliterated) languages.
The term demilitarized zone (DMZ) also exists in the domain of computer networks. In this case it defines a zone where any servers which access the internet are placed. Servers inside this zone may be configured to access certain servers within an internal network. See demilitarized zone (computing).
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Current Demilitarized/Neutral Zones
Europe
- Cyprusian demilitarized zone is dividing the Cyprus (South Cypus) and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (North Cyprus). It was created by the United Nations in 1974 after the Turkish occupation of Cyprus in 1974.
(see:Cyprus dispute)
- Åland (Ahvenanmaa in Finnish) is an autonomous island region on the coast of Finland (in the the Gulf of Bothnia). It was demilitarized zone in 1921 by the League of Nations, after the Åland crisis from 1920 to 1922.(see: Åland crisis)
- A neutral territory exists between Gibraltar and Spain. A strip of land of width "600 toises, being more than 2 cannon shots distance between the British guns and the Spanish guns" would be considered "the neutral ground" stipulated by the Treaty of Seville in 1729. In 1908 the British constructed a fence at the British side of the neutral territory. In order not to offend the Spanish, the fence was actually 1 metre inside British territory. Even though both the United Kingdom and Spain are part of the European Union, the border fence is still relevant today since Gibraltar maintains its tax haven status. The border crossing is open 24-hours a day to facilitate customs collection by Spain.
Middle East and Asia
- Kuwait-Iraq neutral zone
- Saudi-Iraqi neutral zone
- The Korean Demilitarized Zone separates North Korea and South Korea. It was created by the United Nations in 1953 at the end of the Korean War.
Famous demilitarized zones
- Rhineland was a demilitarized zone after World War I by the Treaty of Versailles in 1919. Rheinland was occupated and militarized in 1936 by Nazi Germany.
- Israel and Palestine: The first Green Line referred to the 1949 armistice line between Israel and the Arab nations (Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Egypt) following Israel's 1948 War of Independence. The term Green Line Israel refers to these borders that lasted from 1949 until the 1967 Six Days War.An Green line is between Israel and Palestine is located in The West Bank and is divingding West Bank from Israel.
- Lebanon: The Green Line was also a line of demarcation in Beirut, Lebanon during the Lebanese Civil War from 1975 to 1990. It served to separate the Muslim Lebanese in West Beirut from the Christian Lebanese in East Beirut. It was so named because the line was always drawn in green on local maps. Many of the buildings along the "Green Line" were severely damaged or destroyed during the war. Since the end of hostilities, however, many of the buildings have been rebuilt.
- China: Japanese forces conquered Manchuria between September 1931 and February 1932, when they proclaimed the region to be the puppet state of Manchukuo. In May of 1933, the Tanggu Truce between China and Japan was concluded, which established a demilitarized zone between Manchukuo and China proper.
Fictional demilitarized zones
In the Star Trek universe, a demilitarized zone was establised in 2370, as a a boundary between the United Federation of Planets and the Cardassian Union. The Treaty that established the Zone was deeply opposed on both sides. Some Federation colonies ended up on the Cardassian side and vice versa. The Maquis were formed by Federation colonists on both sides and from within the DMZ.
See also
- Nicosia, Cyprus
- Rhineland
- Korean Demilitarized Zone
- Foreign relations of North Korea
- UNIKOM
- Vietnam Warde:DMZ
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