1560, As the guns fell silent at dusk in Navarino Bay

The major European sea powers in the Mediterranean
   [for centuries have been clashing violently with the Ottoman Empire (the Turks today)
claiming sovereignty and dominance in this sea-path, to the rich East,
             [a path that was the target of all powerful states then, a greatly desired seaway.

In May 1560 near the island of Djerba, Tunisia,
         [the Ottomans under Piyale Pasha's command gained the sea-path, i.e. a major key,
by defeating a Christian fleet composed of Spanish, Papal, Genoese and Maltese forces.
        [and this victory marked the high point of Ottoman power in the Mediterranean Sea.

Ten years later the rematch took place to the same area as a fleet of the Holy League,
                          [a coalition of European Catholic states, arranged by Pope Pius the Fifth,
in Nafpactos Greece they inflicted a major defeat on the fleet of the Ottoman Empire,
                            [an unexpected victory that many thought was a silly rumor or a myth.

But despite that victory, for almost three more centuries,
                    [the Ottoman Empire remained the strongest power in the Mediterranean sea,
until October1827 during the Greek war of independence, when the Ottoman armada
               [was destroyed by British, French and Russian warships and turned into debris.

As the guns fell silent at dusk in Navarino Bay, news of the outcome raced everywhere,

                              [from London, Paris and Moscow, to Constantinople, Athens and Crete.

It was October 20,1827 and church bells rang a continuous peal throughout the night,

                                         [the Ottoman Sultan no longer possessed a Mediterranean fleet.

Since then, the British fleet has dominated the area for centuries

     [and the vestiges of the imperial presence are to be found across Mediterranean sea,

from Algeria and Tunisia, Israel and the Gaza strip to the Lebanon, Syria, Turkey,

         [and of course Greece, which the British fleet helped by a small margin, to be free.

World War II, the battles of Calabria, of Taranto, of Cape Matapan, of Crete,

                                                                [naval battles very different from those of the past,
now the most dangerous enemy for warships comes from the sky,
                       [the British won the war but lost the Mediterranean Sea, what a contrast.

At 9:08 a.m., U.S., Douglas MacArthur, the Commander in the Southwest Pacific
           [accepted the surrender of the Empire of Japan, marking the end of World War II.
The signing took place on the deck of USS Missouri in Tokyo on September 2, 1945,
                     [sometime later the ship of the victors sailed the Mediterranean and it is true
that every country in the region, silently or loudly bowed to the nuclear power,

   [it was obvious that Mediterranean sovereignty by Britain had ended,
                                                                                                           [was finished,
                                                                                                                       [and it was through.

The war-torn old Albion was unable to respond militarily and politically to the number
                               [of possessions of the former empire, ie full control of every corner of the globe,
so de facto pressed by history itself, they handed over the baton of Mediterranean domination
                                                              [to the US...... Britain had no other choice to seek, to probe.
   
During the early 21st century, allegations were heard from the Turkish side, the Blue Homeland,
                                    [the sea areas of the Ottoman Empire, and if we go back in history we will see,
in other words, we the Turks are descendants and heirs of Admirals Barbarossa and Piri Reis
                                                          [who dominated for centuries throughout the Mediterranean sea.

                                                               EPILOG

Those ignoring the history of the Mediterranean sea should learn
                                                [that when they were still living in Mongolia and in Siberia region,
that Blue Homeland they are dreaming and talking about, belonged to the Athenian Empire
                                                          [and there is still on the alert one of their descendants legion.
______________________________________________________________________________

to be continued 

_________________________________________________

''IT COULD BE OTHERWISE in verse''
Texts and Narration: Odysseus Heavilayias - ROTTERDAM //
Language adjustments and text adaptation: Kellene G Safis -CHICAGO//
Digital adaptation and text editing: Cathy Rapakoulia Mataraga - PIRAEUS
_________________________________________________

 ELEGHOS... at history