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17 May 1914 - 2018, The Protocol of Corfu

Protocol of Corfu

Signed 17 May 1914

Location Corfu, Greece

Signatories Albania Principality of Albania

Flag of the Autonomous Republic of Northern Epirus.svg Autonomous Republic of Northern Epirus
The Protocol of Corfu (Greek: Πρωτόκολλο της Κέρκυρας, Albanian: Protokolli i Korfuzit), signed on May 17, 1914, was an agreement between the representatives of the Albanian Government and the Provisional Government of Northern Epirus, which officially recognized the area of Northern Epirus as an autonomous self-governing region under the sovereignty of the prince of the newly established Principality of Albania.[1] The agreement granted the Greeks of the districts of Korytsa and Argyrokastro, which form Northern Epirus, wider religious, educational, cultural and political autonomy, inside the borders of the Albanian state.

After the end of the Balkan Wars (1912–1913), the subsequent peace treaties ceded the region to Albania. This turn of events catalyzed an uprising among the local Greeks, which led to the Northern Epirote Declaration of Independence, on February 28, 1914. The International Commission of Control, an organization responsible for securing peace and stability in the region, eventually intervened and the Protocol of Corfu was signed on May 17, 1914. However the protocol’s terms were never implemented because of the politically unstable situation in Albania following the outbreak of World War I, and it was eventually annulled in 1921 during the Conference of Ambassadors