London Conference of 1912-1913 - History

History

An armistice to end the First Balkan War had been signed on 3 December 1912.

The London Peace Conference was attended by those delegates from the Balkan allies (including Greece) who had not signed the previous armistice, as well as Ottoman Empire.

The Conference started in September 1912 at the St James's Palace under the chairmanship of Sir Edward Grey. Further sessions of the conference began on 16 December 1912, but ended on 23 January 1913, when the Coup of 1913 in the Ottoman Empire took place.

On 30 May 1913, the conference signed the Treaty of London (1913), an agreement under which Ottoman Empire would give up all territory west of the Enos-Midia line. After much discussion, the Ambassadors reached a formal decision on 29 July 1913, to establish the Principality of Albania as a sovereign state independent of the Ottoman Empire.

As a result of the decisions taken and because of pressures from Greece and Serbia, half of the predominantly native Albanian territory of Independent Albania and between 30% and 40% of the Albanian population was left out of the newly-established Principality of Albania. In particular Kosovo Vilayet was given to Serbia and Chameria to Greece.

A special boundary commission was sent to to delinate the Greek-Albanian border. However, being unable to delinate the area on an ethnographic basis, it fell back upon economic, strategic and geographical arguments, which resulted in the decision of the London Conference to cede most of the disputed area to Albania. This turn of event catalyzed an uprising among the local Greek population, who declared the Autonomous Republic of Northern Epirus.

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