Apokoronas stakes claim to Asi Gonia's vast highland pasture
A long-running question over who owns one of Apokoronas's largest stretches of highland grazing land has taken a decisive turn. On September 1, 2026, the head of the Asi Gonia local community, Georgios Sbyrakis, appeared at the Apokoronas municipal offices alongside a witness and signed a declaration confirming that the Madara pasture — a sweeping plateau above the village — is municipal property.
What is the Madara of Asi Gonia?
The Madara is an expansive highland plateau in the Apokoronas area of the Chania regional unit, Crete. It covers two adjoining plots of land:
- Plot A: 5,976,199.70 square metres
- Plot B: 540,494.27 square metres
- Total area: approximately 6,516,694 square metres — more than 650 hectares of open highland
The area borders the communities of Asi Gonia, Alikampos, Kournas, and Askyfou, and has been the subject of boundary agreements between neighbouring villages since the 1940s and 1950s.
What happened on September 1, 2026?
A survey map drawn up in March 2023 contained a handwritten note stating that the Madara was divided among certain families from Asi Gonia, with each entitled family receiving a one-twenty-seventh share — a maximum of 241,359 square metres per family.
That note was crossed out on September 1, 2026, on the instruction of the community head. The reason given: both Plot A and Plot B belong in their entirety to the municipality of Apokoronas, making any claim of private family ownership invalid under the official survey.
Who could be affected?
This decision could have real consequences for several groups of people:
- Families from Asi Gonia who believed they held hereditary rights over parts of the Madara
- Farmers who work the land and may receive EU agricultural subsidies based on these plots
- Residents and community leaders from the neighbouring villages of Alikampos, Kournas, Askyfou, and Patsianos, whose boundaries touch the Madara
Urgent deadline: Wednesday, September 2, 2026, at 2:00 p.m.
The municipality has called on all community leaders in the surrounding area, as well as any private individuals with an interest in the Madara, to come to the Apokoronas municipal offices before 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday, September 2, 2026, in order to:
- Submit objections to the municipality's ownership claim
- Provide documents supporting private or communal property rights
- Protect any subsidies or usage rights that depend on recognised ownership of these plots
Missing this deadline risks having your claim overlooked in any future process.
Historical roots of the dispute
The earliest formal record of the Madara's boundaries dates to May 11, 1956, when the then-village council of Asi Gonia officially mapped the limits of the area. Those boundaries were also established through a series of bilateral agreements between Asi Gonia and its neighbouring communities during the 1940s and 1950s. The 2023 survey map — which forms the basis of today's declaration — was prepared by civil engineer Vasileios Kontezakis and relied on historical documents as well as on-site boundary marking carried out by community head Georgios Sbyrakis.
Download the official survey map
The full topographic survey of the Asi Gonia Madara is available to download from the municipality's website: