Greek Uprising in the Middle East

An attempted coup made in 1935 by supporters of E. Venizelos , in order to prevent the restoration of the monarchy, was suppressed. This strengthened the position of the monarchists, which led to the fall of the Second Hellenic Republic . After the plebiscite of 1935, the monarchy was restored. Fearing an upsurge in the left movement, the king appointed General I. Metaxas as prime minister.

In August 1936, with the consent of the king, Metaxas dissolved the parliament and established a dictatorial regime in the country, referred to in historiography as the “August 4 regime” ^[5] . The Metaxas regime was clearly anti-communist in nature and, with all its national features, ideologically close to its modern regimes in Italy , Germany and Spain, however, in foreign policy it continued the pro-British policy traditional for Greece from the 19th century. Metaxas tried to remain neutral in the outbreak of World War II , but rejected the Italian ultimatum presented to him on October 28, 1940, although he did not believe that Greece could emerge victorious from a military clash with Italy ^{[6] [7]} . However, the Greek army repelled the Italian invasion and transferred hostilities to the territory of Albania. Metaxas died during the war, on January 29, 1941, and economist A. Korizis became prime minister.

Continuing Greek victories forced Hitler Germany to help his ally. The Germans invaded Greece on April 6, 1941 from the territory of their allied Bulgaria. Unable to break through the Metaxas Line right away , German divisions marched through Yugoslav territory and reached Thessaloniki . As the Germans approached the capital, Prime Minister A. Korisis committed suicide. On April 21, the post of prime minister was taken by E. Tsuderos , who on April 23, together with the royal court and ministers, moved to the island of Crete , and then to Egypt . Crete fell on May 31. Greece was divided into German, Italian and Bulgarian zones of occupation. In the created political vacuum, the initiative to create the Resistance Movement in the occupied country was taken by the Communist Party of Greece , which created a broad National Liberation Front (EAM), and which, in turn, created the People's Liberation Army (ELAS).

Even before the parts evacuated from Greece arrived in the Middle East, there was a battalion of volunteers from the local Greeks of Egypt. The battalion was intended to participate in hostilities in Greece, but was stuck in Egypt, most likely due to its indefinite affiliation.

In June 1941, other units began to form from the soldiers who had survived the battle of Crete . To continue the war, the surviving ships of the Greek fleet broke into Alexandria , consisting of a 30-year-old armored cruiser ( Georgios Averof , 9 destroyers, 5 submarines, 2 transports, 5 minesweepers, 1 floating workshop, 2 mobilized passenger ships ^[8] . The aircraft that the Greek Air Force had at the beginning of the war ^{[9] [10]} survived and only 10 aircraft survived and arrived in the Middle East. Refugees from islands and mainland Greece began to arrive. ^[11] Together with the government, about 250 army officers were exiled to the Middle East. and 500 fleet and aviation officers ^[12] The spontaneous and organized flow of secret officers and privates arriving from occupied Greece to the Middle East intensified, and the case of the Evros brigade is separately considered.

Evros Brigade

The brigade that covered the Greek-Turkish border along the Evros River, at the beginning of the German invasion, numbered 2,300 people, under the command of General Zisis. The brigade successfully defended the extreme (eastern) fort of Nimfeo Metaxas Lines and its section of the Greco-Bulgarian border.

After the surrender of the group of divisions of East Macedonia , the threat of capturing the brigade arose. General Zisis decided to transfer the brigade to the Turkish bank of the river, assuming that the provisions of the pre-war Balkan Pact between Greece, Yugoslavia and Turkey remain in force. The general, however, did not know that the Turks had signed an agreement with the Germans, which annulled the Pact, having received assurance from the Germans that they would remain 20 km from the Turkish border. When the brigade laid down its arms, but was refused immediate transfer to Crete to continue participating in the battles, General Zisis committed suicide ^[12] .

British diplomacy made great efforts to flirt with the Germans, but nominally neutral Turkey ^[13] allowed 1300 unarmed soldiers and brigade officers to get to the Middle East ^[12] .

In June 1941, the emigration government formed the 1st brigade, consisting of 250 officers and 5500 privates ^[12] .

By the end of 1942, 2 brigades, 1 artillery regiment, a separate infantry battalion, and the “ Holy Squad ” ^{[12] were created} .

However, with the involvement of a large number of officers of the pre-war dictatorial regime, General I. Metaxas and the monarchists, it became obvious that these units were formed not so much for the struggle against the Axis armies, but for the return of the emigrant government and the British court that secured the British interests after Greece was released made it possible to use them against the People’s Liberation Army of Greece created on the initiative of the Communist Party.

For this reason, from October 10, 1941, at the initiative of Yannis Sallas and other Greek Communists, the Anti-Fascist Military Organization (ΑΣΟ) was created in the army. Its structures were also created in the Navy (Anti-Fascist Organization of the Fleet (ΑΟΝ) led by the communist Philip Pangalos) and in the Air Force (Anti-Fascist Organization of Aviation (ΑΟΑ)) ^[11] . In addition, an organization of Greek refugees in the Middle East and the Greek population of Egypt, the National Liberation League (ΕΑΣ), was created. Sallas became the coordinator and Secretary General of the organizations.

The historian T. Gerosisis writes that since Sallas left Greece without contact with the Greek Communist Party until 1943, he acted at his discretion, therefore neither the Communist Party nor the National Liberation Front (EAM) were directly related to his actions ^[12] .

These organizations printed the relevant newspapers Antifascist, Liberty, and Zveda, which were widely distributed both in military units and among the Greek civilian population in the Middle East.

From their very first pages, newspapers reflected the organized opposition of ordinary, non-commissioned officers, as well as some officers, in relation to senior officers, many of whom represented the pre-war dictatorial regime of General Metaxas. ΑΣΟ protested and blamed the emigration governments of E. Tsuderos , and then Sophocles Venizelos , for keeping the Metaxas regime in key positions of the army, which, among other things, according to its accusations, was a source of corruption and poor functioning of the army. The organization also accused the government of instead of preparing a large army for war against the Axis, it continued anti-communist and anti-Soviet propaganda, with the goal of using the army for its own purposes after the liberation of the country. ΑΣΟ also blamed and made known the ongoing contacts of the emigration government with the quisling government in Athens.

Characteristically, many of the ΑΣ при appeals are aimed at improving the military's combat ability. However, the class feelings of emigration leaders (politicians and senior officers) did not for a moment lose their horizon: training and maintaining the army as the force that would return and support their power in post-war Greece. This was central to the emigration government. The upcoming clash was the basis of his policy throughout the entire period of the existence of the Greek army in the Middle East ^[11] . The historian Solon Grigoriadis writes ^[14] :

“ΑΣΟ and its branches ΑΟΝ and ΑΟΑ organized in their ranks a significant number of soldiers, sailors and pilots, as well as a small, but not at all insignificant part of non-commissioned officers and officers. Many of them gradually joined communism, including several officers. With the mechanism she created, the organization could massively mobilize military personnel and inspire fanaticism and passion. Initially, the organization addressed the Democrats, but included its supporters in the unambiguously left category, under the name "anti-fascists."

Grigoriadis also notes that ΑΣΟ was more frank in its goals than EAM in Greece. The organization took clear, uncompromising, aggressive political positions against the king, the government, even against the bourgeois democratic concepts of the old Venizelos supporters.

In her tactics and strategy, ΑΣΟ used "genuine revolutionary, Leninist methods." According to Grigoriadis, its leaders lived in 1916. They addressed directly to soldiers. The mobilization and dedication of officers was a secondary goal of the organization. Grigoriadis believes that the leaders and supporters of this powerful organization had a “Red Guard” mentality. According to historian T. Gerosisis, ΑΣΟ pursued 2 goals ^[12] :

• As much as possible participation in the war
• Control over the army in the Middle East, in order to prevent its transformation into the army of " Praetorians " in the service of the monarchy.

By the end of 1942, the size of the government army in exile was increased to 30 thousand: 18,000 in the ground forces, 7,000 in the navy and 4,000-5,000 in the air force.

The main task of the Greek fleet was to escort convoys of allied merchant ships in the Mediterranean Sea. It should be noted that in 1943, of the 41 warships escorting convoys in the Mediterranean Sea, 27 belonged to the British fleet, 11 Greek and only 3 French. Greek warships operated in the Atlantic from England to Cape Town. Of the 6 submarines held by the Greek Navy at the beginning of the war, 4 were donated to the altar of Victory. Of these, Glavkos (Y-6) died May 12, 1942, Triton (Y-5) November 16, 1942).

The 13th light bombers squadron created in the summer of 1941 continued to battle in the air ^[15] , the 335th bombers squadron and the 336th squadron ^[16] .

On land, the 1st brigade of the Greek army, under the command of Colonel Pausanias Tsakalotos, took part in the battle of El Alamein at the end of October and beginning of November 1942, losing 6 officers and 83 privates, as well as more than 300 wounded.

On February 17, 1943, soldiers of the infantry battalion of the ΙΙ brigade located in Syria rebelled ^[12] , due to the replacement of their commander, Lieutenant Colonel Hadzistavris, who at one time, being a supporter of Venizelos, was dismissed after an attempted coup of 1935. Unrest spread throughout the ΙΙ brigade: the major who arrived to replace Hadzistavris was beaten, while 150 brigade officers, of whom ΑΣΟ referred to as “fascists,” resigned.

P. Kanellopoulos , being the Minister of Defense of the emigration government, hastened from Cairo to Syria, where these events took place, but he suffered a new blow: the вз brigade rebelled during this period, which was trained in the mountainous areas of Lebanon ^[11] , in solidarity with Hadzistavris . Grigoriadis writes ^[14] : “The rebels - soldiers, non-commissioned officers and some junior officers - demanded from their command that Lieutenant Colonel Hadzistavris and the commanders of other battalions, who after the riot expressed their solidarity with him and were also deposed, returned to their places. Further, the rebels demanded the resignation of all the officers of the “Fourth of August” (Metaxas regime), as well as a reshuffle in the government, with the inclusion of democratic officers in it. " Kannelopoulos, who was nearly lynched by Greek soldiers in a camp in Hadera ( Palestine ) and escaped him at the last moment (his driver was stabbed ^[12] ), unable to solve the problem with the rebels by the Greek government, turned to to the British. Those, in turn, in order to avoid bloodshed, advised him to retreat.

Kanellopoulos accepted the first demand of the rebels. 150 right-wing officers who have already resigned, plus 150 right-wing soldiers from the rebellious formations, were arrested and imprisoned in the camp Merge Ayum ^[12] . Kanellopoulos could not accept the second demand and resigned.

The resignation was accepted. The ongoing confrontation in the Greek units in the Middle East between the monarchists and the Republicans forced the king and Prime Minister E. Zuderos to leave London , settle in Egypt and fulfill the second demand of the rebellious Republicans of the 2nd Greek brigade ^[12] .

The government was cleansed of the “Fourth of August”, and the fleet commander, monarchist Admiral A. Sakellariu , and Admiral Alexandris were replaced. The rebellion at this stage was crowned with complete success.

When the situation became calmer, changes were made in the command of the brigades, and the most “active” rebels were sent to Tobruk to guard the German prisoner of war camp.

The driving force of the rebellion, ΑΣΟ, remained unknown and unaffected by the actions of the government. T. Gerosisis writes that this victory, instead of leading to a serious, responsible and deep study of the situation and the actual balance of power, led the organization to maximalist positions and trends ^[12] .

In July 1943 it was the turn of the ships of the fleet. The crews of the destroyers Ieraks and Miaulis rebelled . By order of the Minister of the Sea, Sophocles Venizelos, the riot was suppressed. Tear gas was used against the Ieraks crew, 27 sailors were arrested. Events stirred up Alexandria. The government tried to clean up other ships and generally suppress the movement of soldiers and citizens of the Greek community, whom they considered responsible for communist activities ^[11] . At the same time, the ΙΙ brigade rebelled again. After the first victim, beatings of officers followed, including the commander and chief of staff of the brigade. The military doctor Mavrogenis, considering the beating of officers an insult, committed suicide ^[12] . The arrests of "reactionaries", officers and privates were massive.

The British troops intervened, which disarmed the brigade and sent about 300 rebels to concentration camps. 4 soldiers were sentenced to death, but were not shot. A few days later, a failed uprising of prisoners in a concentration camp, where the Greek soldiers were, occurred. 2 of them were sentenced to death and shot. The team was temporarily disbanded.

T. Gerozisis believes that ΑΣΟ, requiring immediate participation in the war and national unity, was provoked in its actions by the organizations of the four-augusts and British secret services and its methods “facilitated the game of the British and their trap” ^[12] .

Grigoriadis writes ^[14] : “In the formations and ships of the fleet, ΑΣΟ managed after the rebellions of 1943 to regroup and expand its influence. The commanders of the units and ships did not suspect to what extent the people whom they commanded were controlled by this invisible and elusive Power. The government and headquarters did not suspect even more about this. ”

On March 18, 1944, the creation of the territory of the “Political Committee of National Liberation” (Greek Πολιτική Επιτροπή Εθνικής Απελευθέρωσης - ΠΕΕΑ), also known as the “Government of the Mountains”, was announced on the territory liberated by the People’s Liberation Army of Greece . The likelihood of a government of national unity was emerging, and one of the main forces that could outweigh the political confrontation was the army in the Middle East. Grigoriadis writes that whoever gains control of an army in the Middle East acquired a powerful instrument of pressure. He writes that this control was becoming desirable for another purpose. As the hour of Liberation approached, the importance of the armed forces abroad for the post-war new confrontation loomed. The result of all these opposing trends was the almost complete decomposition of the emigration army even before the end of the war, in which its participation was a national necessity.

The objective goal of the April uprising was to force the government of Zuderos to recognize ΠΕΕΑ as the main partner and representative of Greece. Grigoriadis writes that, in essence, this was the first and decisive civil left-right clash for power as such. Not just for power in the mountains of occupied Greece, but for government power - at that time and after liberation. And unlike the second clash in December 1944 , where the issue of power was not on the agenda, in the Middle East such a question stood and was claimed in any way.

When the news reached the Middle East, ΑΣΟ decided to put pressure on Tsuderos to recognize ΠΕΕΑ as the main representative of Greece and together with the “Government of the Mountains” form a new government of national unity. A delegation of Republican officers arrived at Zuderos on March 31. Tsuderos politely accepted her, saying that he agreed with the government forming national unity, but then, immediately after the delegation left, ordered her to be arrested ^[12] . The event caused unrest in military units and the demand for the resignation of Zuderos. Tsuderos was ready to resign, but under pressure from the British, who did not want to see the Greek government outside British control, refused to resign.

On April 1, two officers of the 2nd artillery regiment located in Heliopolis near Cairo appeared before their commander and declared that they recognized only ΠΕΕΑ as legitimate government, that is, the mountain government. A gathering of the regiment followed, in which 14 officers and 240 privates, out of a total of 700, declared support. The regiment commander, Stilianos Manidakis , ready for such a development of events, arrested them all and handed them over to the British. They were sent to the Mena concentration camp, not far from the pyramids.

On April 3, retired Major Constas, fired for participating in the 1943 riot, occupied the headquarters of the Greek garrison in Cairo.

On the same day, 3 colonels appeared before Prime Minister Zuderos and told him that in the army and navy the actual command was carried out by the committees of soldiers and sailors, members of ΑΣΟ. Having lost control of the situation, Tsuderos eventually resigned ^[12] . The resignation of Tsuderos fueled the fighting mood in the fleet in support of EAM and ΠΕΕΑ. The goal now is full control of the fleet, on behalf of ΠΕΕΑ. Groups of sailors occupied the Ministry of the Sea, the headquarters of the fleet, the naval commandant's office in Alexandria, as well as the naval school. In Cairo, the buildings of the General Staff and Supply Services were occupied ^[11] . Forces loyal to the government guarded other buildings. Meanwhile, 13 officers arrested by Tsuderos were released by the rebels.

While the British knocked out the rebels from the buildings they occupied in Cairo, a brigade revolted. Here ΑΣΟ put forth a force of 1000 soldiers, out of a total of 5000. The 1st brigade, ready to be sent to Italy, demanded that it be considered a unit of the People's Liberation Army of Greece (ELAS). The rebels arrested the officers. There were dead and wounded.

At the same time, the ΙΙ brigade came under the control of soldiers' committees. Only a few parts remained loyal to the government.

On the same night, from April 5 to 6, an uprising swept the ships that were in Alexandria and Port Said , and the submarines in Malta ^[11] .

In Alexandria, where there were 6 destroyers and other Greek ships, and in Port Said, where there was a veteran and the glory of the Greek fleet, the battleship Georgios Averof with 6 destroyers and submarines, the uprising was universal. The epicenter of the uprising of the fleet in Alexandria was the destroyer Kriti and the floating workshop Hephaestus. The crew of the destroyer “ Pind ” threw the senior officers into the sea before the departure and made the transition to Malta , trying to bring the Greek ships on this island to revolt, then moved to Italy and, having come in contact with the Italian Communist Party, refused to continue serving in the royal fleet .

Submarines in Malta or on a campaign in the Mediterranean declared joining the uprising. Fleet commander Admiral Konstantinos Alexandris joined the rebellion and sent 4 officers to Cairo, in order to put pressure on politicians to form a government of national unity ^[12] . On the morning of April 6, the fleet submitted (theoretically) to the government of Pству. Using the appropriate Greek expression, Grigoriadis writes: "The British tore their hair."

The British Prime Minister Winston Churchill , realizing the gravity of the events for the British plans for Greece, personally addressed the issue. According to Churchill's instructions, as a first reaction, a blockade of 4,500 rebels was chosen, cutting off the supply of food and water to them. The blockade began on April 8, but with relative success, since the local Arabs conducted smuggling with the besieged.

On April 13, King George , who arrived in Cairo, appointed Sophocles Venizelos as Prime Minister. On April 15, Churchill, in a telegram to Liper, the British ambassador to the Greek government in exile, wrote: “Do not worry too much about the external consequences. Do not show intentions about negotiations ”and“ It would be a big mistake to end this serious issue with a hug ” ^[12] .

Venizelos used to suppress the uprising both loyal to the king of the military, and, above all, the British units. The 1st Brigade was surrounded by a British division. In skirmishes there were killed from two parties. The encircled brigade surrendered 16 days later, on April 23rd.

Meanwhile, the artillery regiment and other Greek units decomposed. The last rebel unit that was disarmed by the British was the tank regiment, disarmed on May 4.

More bloody was the suppression of the uprising in the navy. On April 16, British Admiral Andrew Brown Cunningham warned Sophocles Venizelos that the British were determined to sink the Greek fleet in Alexandria. Venizelos, worried that the Greek fleet might repeat the fate of the French fleet in Oran in 1940, decided to act on his own. He appointed Fleet Commander Admiral Petros Vulgaris , who managed to carry out an operation to intercept the fleet with loyal officers and sailors on the night of April 22-23. During the operation, several officers and sailors died ^[12] .

5 days later, without a fight, the battleship Averof and other ships of the rebels in Port Said surrendered ^[11] . The same thing happened with other ships located in Malta or on the move in the Mediterranean.

Some centers of the uprising survived on ships and submarines until early June. One of them was the destroyer Pindos ^[11] .

The end result of clashes in the Middle East was the almost complete dissolution of the army of the emigration government. Of the 30,000 Greek officers and soldiers in the Middle East, between 20,000 and 22,000 were imprisoned in British concentration camps in Eritrea , Egypt, Sudan, and Libya. ^[11]

Those who passed the filtration completed manpower loyal to the king and the British ( 3rd Greek Mountain Brigade and Sacred Squad ) ^[12] . After the suppression of the uprising, the sailors of the rebellious Greek ships, including those imprisoned in British camps, were filtered before returning to board their ships ^[17] .

A few weeks later, the leadership of the Communist Party, following a policy of national unity, took part in the Conference in Lebanon, where it condemned the uprising. The 1st chapter of the “National Treaty” in Lebanon, signed by all parties, begins as follows: “We all agreed that the rebellion of the Middle East is a crime against the Fatherland. We all also agreed that the investigation should continue and that the instigators of rebellion should be punished in accordance with their guilt ” ^[11] .

The compromise policy expressed by the Communist Party of Greece at the Conference in Lebanon, and then, in Italian Caserta in early 1944, where the command of all the Greek forces, including ELAS, was given to the British general by another compromise, did not lead to the peaceful development of post-war political life in Greece. Taking advantage of the rights arising from these agreements and under the pretext of the supposedly humanitarian Operation Manna , British troops landed in Greece, which had almost been liberated by ELAS, in mid-October 1944.

A month later, after the political crisis, where the Holy Unit and the filtered 3rd Greek Mountain Brigade became a stumbling block, the British humanitarian operation escalated into an open military clash in December 1944 in Athens with the city’s ELAS units. The leadership of the Communist Party and the EAM, once again, made a compromise and signed the Varkiz Agreement in January 1945, believing that in this way it would be possible to avoid a civil war and direct the country's political life into a peaceful direction. After being released from the concentration camp, Yannis Sallas returned to Greece and took part in his discussion in the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Greece regarding the Anti-Fascist struggle in the Middle East. Since a significant part of the party leadership believed that the uprising in the Middle East was a mistake and blamed him, Sallas said that in the summer of 1943, in Cairo , the party’s functionary P. Russos agreed with him on the plan that the creation of the PEEA would be a signal for an uprising Middle East ^[12] .

The current leadership of the Communist Party and historiographers close to it consider it not the uprising itself, but all the subsequent compromises of the party leadership, as a result of which the position of EAM-ELAS was weakened, which only accelerated the confrontation with the British and the right circles in much worse conditions. Some of the opposition Communist Parties of historians, such as, for example, Thebos Ikonomidis, include the uprising led by Sallas in the mainstream of Soviet politics of those years ^[18] .

Ikonomidis writes that the Soviet Union openly supported the rebellion of the Greek army in the Middle East. Based on this statement, Ikonomidis suggests that Sallas and the leadership of ΑΣились were not in contact with the Communist Party Central Committee in Athens or with ΠΕΕΑ in the Greek mountains, but directly with the Soviet leadership. Ikonomidis writes that "the Soviet leadership was looking for leverage over the British in order to secure its goals in Poland, against which Britain still stubbornly resisted." According to Ikonomidis, "the Greek Communists in the Middle East were only expendables for the Soviet leadership, in the same way as their comrades in Athens became consumables a few months later, in December 1944" ^[19] .

Historian opposition Communist Parties indicate that the uprising essentially abolished the ground forces of the emigration government. Instead of 2 divisions, which were supposed to triumphly enter Rome , as the victorious conclusion of the Greco-Italian war , the army was reduced to one brigade, which distinguished itself in Italy under Rimini in September 1944, and then, in December, the British engaged in Athens These historians believe that the result of the uprising was the political and military "self-castration" of the Communist Party - the conditions after the return of the army in Greece would be completely different if there had not been a rebellion that led to the elimination of the EAM (ΑΣΟ) forces among the soldiers and sailors.

Grigoriadis believes that the uprising showed the political nearsightedness of the “Leninists” in the Middle East: instead of preserving their forces for the decisive moment of the Liberation, where everything would be decided, they spent these forces pursuing intermediate and secondary goals. Moreover, this happened during the war - and, even worse, in the Middle East, where their enemy, the British, absolutely dominated.

The Communist Party of Greece is accused by these historians of political amoralism: its representatives at the Conference in Lebanon, a few weeks later, in their apologetic tone to telegrams to Churchill and Roosevelt, did not hesitate and unconditionally condemned their comrades as “insane”, and called their uprising a crime against the Fatherland ^{[14 ]} .

Thousands of Greek Communists found themselves behind barbed wire in British concentration camps. The poet Fotis Angules , who was imprisoned in a concentration camp in the Libyan desert, wrote in his poem "Dedication to Lord Byron" ^[20] :

We cannot tonight

An image to remember yours again

Since barbed wire can

our thought is stuck

And bleed your soul with blood

• And Chiotakis, “Political Storms - The Greek Anti-Fascist Movement in the Middle East” (Ι. Χιωτάκης Πολιτικές Θύελες - Το ελληνικό αντιφασιστικό κίνημα στη ΑσηήΑ
• D. Chondrokukis, “The Leaders of Anti-Stalinism” (Δ. Χονδροκούκης Οι Πολέμαρχοι του Αντισταλινιμμού Εκδ. Ισοκράτης Αθήνα 1993.)
• Adam Stephanides, "Mutiny on the fleet in the Middle East» (Αδαμ Στεφανίδης «Το Κίνημα του Ναυτικού στη Μέση Ανατολή», (μέρος Α) - «Πόλεμος και Ιστορία» τεύχος 31ο (Ιούνιος 2000), (μέρος Β) - «Πόλεμος και Ιστορία »τεύχος 32ο (Ιούλ.- Αυγ. 2000).
• D. Canteres, “Greek Army of the Middle East. Days of Glory and Shame ”(Δ. Καντερές“ Ο Ελληνικός Στρατός της Μέσης Ανατολής: Μέρες δόξας ναι ντροπής ”περιοδδδ «............... ..