Pact of Halepa
The Pact of Halepa (Greek: Σύμβαση της Χαλέπας) or Halepa Charter (Χάρτης της Χαλέπας) was an agreement made in 1878 between the Ottoman Empire (then ruled by the Sultan Abdul Hamid II) and the representatives of the Cretan Revolutionary Committee, which secured wide-ranging autonomy for the island of Crete. It was named after the place where it was signed, Halepa (now a district of Chania).
History
Following the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78 and the Treaty of Berlin (1878), the Ottoman government pledged to carry out reforms in the Empire's administration to remove discrimination against the Christian population. The island of
As a first gesture of conciliation, the Sultan had for the first time appointed a Christian Greek,
On 15 October (27 October Gregorian) 1878, this final agreement was reached and signed at the home of the journalist Costis Mitsotakis (the namesake grandfather of the future Greek Prime Minister) at Halepa. Its stipulations were:
- The island of Crete would be governed by a Governor-General with a five-year tenure; if the Governor-General was a Christian, he would have a Muslim Deputy, and vice versa
- Public services would be staffed by native Cretans, while Greek became the language of the law courts
- A portion of the island's tax proceeds would remain in Crete for local use, and a series of tax reductions were granted to Crete
- The number of Christian sub-provincial governors would be greater than the Muslim ones
- A new Cretan Gendarmerie would police the island, recruited by native inhabitants
- The public use of the Greek language, the foundation of Greek-language associations, newspapers, etc. was sanctioned
- A general amnestyfor those who had taken part in the uprising was proclaimed, and the licensed carrying of arms by the populace was granted
The agreement was considered as superseding any future or past Ottoman legislation, or even contradictory provisions of the
See also
References
Stephen Boys Smith, Thomas Sandwith: A British Consul in the Levant, 1855-1891, The Isis Press, Istanbul, 2020. Stephen Boys Smith, "Thomas Sandwith" in www.oxforddnb.com.