Албаниядағы Сазан аралының тарихы

Island in Albania

Sazan is an Albanian uninhabited island in the Mediterranean Sea. The largest of Albania's islands, it is a designated military exclusion zone; it lies in a strategically important location between the Strait of Otranto and the mouth of the Bay of Vlorë, marking the border between the Adriatic and Ionian seas. In 2010, of the island's surrounding marine area was designated as the Karaburun Sazan Marine Park. In clear weather, Sazan is sometimes visible from the coast of Salento, Italy, to its west. The island has been open to the public since July 2015. The island has a surface area of It is long and wide, and its coastline measures about .

Sazan was known as Sason (Σάσων) to the ancient Greeks, and Saso to the ancient Romans. Pseudo Scylax mentioned it in his Periplus. Polybius wrote that there had been a military encounter there in 215 BC between the forces of Philip V of Macedon and the Romans. The island was part of the Roman Empire, and later came under Byzantine rule. In 1279, it was captured by the Anjou of Naples, and in the 14th century, it was held by Albanian lords, often under the protection of the Republic of Venice. Around 1400, the Ottomans captured it, but by 1696 it was controlled by the Venetians. In 1815, it came under the protection of Britain along with the Ionian Islands, which were made an autonomous republic. In 1864, the island was ceded to Greece along with the rest of the Ionian Islands. But Greece did not occupy it, and it came under the de facto control of the Ottomans. It was not until the First Balkan War, in 1912, that Greece landed soldiers on the island and formally claimed it, calling it Sasona (Σάσωνα). After the end of the Second Balkan War in 1913, Italy and Austria Hungary pressed Greece to evacuate all of Northern Epirus, including the island. Due to the risk of starting a war with Italy, Greece evacuated it. Italy in turn occupied it on 30 October 1914, and established a military commander on the island, which is called Saseno in Italian. This was later ratified on 26 April 1915 by the secret Treaty of London. After World War I, Albania formally ceded the island to Italy on 2 September 1920 as part of the Albano Italian protocol. The island was part of Italy from 1920 until after World War II, administratively part of Lagosta, in the province of Zara. In those years the Italian authorities built a lighthouse and some naval fortifications, and populated the island with a few families of fishermen relocated from Apulia. The island was united to the Italian Governatorate of Dalmatia in 1941 during World War II and ceded to Albania on 10 February 1947, under the postwar peace treaty with Italy.

During the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States, Albania relied heavily on the Soviet Union. During that time, the Soviets built a base for Whiskey class submarines and a chemical/biological weapons plant on the island and surrounding areas. After the fall of communism four submarines remained at Pasha Limani port in the bay of Vlore. To this day, many Soviet era gas masks can still be found scattered around the valley of the island. The island now is uninhabited but there is a small Italo Albanian naval base, used mainly to counter contraband between southern Italy and Albania and as a training field for the British Royal Navy. It has four peaks, the highest standing at above sea level followed by two peaks in the center and , and the lowest with in the south of the island.

[[File:Jacobaea maritima. jpg|thumb|right|Jacobaea maritima can be found on the eastern coast. The island is home to 435 species (419 indigenous) of vascular plants, or 8.2% of Albania's entire vascular flora. 8 species of reptiles, 1 species of amphibia and as well as 122 species of invertebrates. The bird species in Sazan with high conservation value include 23 songbirds, 5 bird of preys, 3 pigeons, and 3 swifts. The amphibians are represented by 1 of which include the green toad nesting in the wet deciduous forests and the forest streams. There are 8 reptile species. The Mediterranean house gecko, testudo hermanni boettgeri, Balkan pond turtle, sheltopusik, blue throated keeled lizard, Balkan wall lizard, Montpellier snake and Balkan whip snake are present in most rocky, and wet natural habitats throughout the island. There are between 122 identified species, including 113 insects, but their actual number is estimated to be higher. Among the insects are 40 are beetles, 16 butterflies, 22 heteroptera, 20 orthoptera, 5 dragonflies and 10 hymenoptera.