Protocol of Corfu - Legacy

Legacy

The Protocol of Corfu is often mentioned by Northern Epirote and human rights organizations when referring to the discrimination against the Greek minority in Albania. On the other hand, in Albanian historiography this agreement is scarcely mentioned or its interpretation is often grounded on different positions: it is seen as an attempt to divide the Albanian state and as a proof of the Great Powers' disregard for the national integrity of Albania.

Notably, during the 1960s, the Soviet General Secretary Nikita Khrushchev asked the communist leader of Albania Enver Hoxha about giving autonomy to the minority, but this initiative was without any result. The autonomy question remains one of the main issues on the diplomatic agenda in Albanian-Greek relations, after the collapse of the communist regime in Albania (1991). Moreover, a certain degree of autonomy, based on the terms of the Protocol of Corfu, is the main objective of the organization Omonoia, as well as the Unity for Human Rights Party, which represents the Greek minority in the Albanian government. Such proposals were rejected in 1991 by the Albanian government, thus spurring Omonoia's radical wing to call for Union with Greece. In another incident, in 1993, Omonoia’s chairman was immediately arrested by the Albanian police, after explaining in public that the goal of the Greek minority was autonomy inside the Albanian borders, based on the terms of the Protocol.