On August 27, 1923, on the border between Greece and Albania, a group of three Italian officers, their guide and their interpreter were found dead near Kakavia, inside Greek territory. The officers were General Tellini, Major Corti and Captain Bonacini.
Two days later the Mussolini government imposed on Greece, which it considered responsible, five conditions of escalating gravity. The terms were:
– Honoring the bodies of the dead and the Italian flag
– Official apology to Italy from Greece
– Holding a memorial service for the dead in the presence of all members of the Greek government
– Participation of the Italian military follow in the interrogations
– Sentence to death of the guilty
– Compensation with the enormous amount for the time of 50 million lire
Greece accepted the first three conditions but Mussolini was not satisfied, despite assurances from Athens that the perpetrators were not Greek but Albanian bandits.
On August 31, 1923 three battleships, two heavy and two light cruisers and other vessels of the Italian navy appeared before the port of Corfu. The Italian head of the squadron sent a signal to the prefect of the island to surrender Corfu! When the prefect refused the Italian warships opened fire killing 15 and injuring 35 civilians. Then Italian troops occupied, without resistance, the island.
On the same day, the ambassadors of Britain, France, Japan and Italy, who were overseeing the border demarcation issue, demanded from Athens the immediate discovery of the culprits. The so-called Ambassadorial Conference, thanks to the diplomatic ineptitude of the then Greek rulers, assumed a primary role , putting in a secondary role the League of Nations (League), the ancestor of the UN, which however also disappointed.
Greece thus, for a murder that was not even proven to have been committed by its own citizens, not only found itself accused but suffered a flagrant violation of international law, an open act of war on the part of Italy, expecting justice from international law, as it does and now with Turkey about...
On September 8, the Ambassadorial Conference, in which Italy also participated (!) pressured Greece to accept the Italian terms and pay the 50 million lire, despite the fact that the three ambassadors accepted the fact that Greece did NOT HE WAS RESPONSIBLE for the murder of the Italians. Even the testimony of an Albanian bandit who said that the Albanian authorities had asked him to assassinate the Italians was ignored.
Greece had deposited, as a guarantee, the amount at the International Court of Justice in The Hague and of course the money was pledged in favor of Italy, which however also requested compensation for the costs of occupying Corfu! It was about the absolute humiliation of every concept of law, but also about the absolute humiliation of Greece. However, Greece did not appeal to the Hague Court, despite the recommendations of diplomats. As for the ICC, to which Greece had appealed, he left the issue to the Ambassadorial Conference...
Finally Greece gave in to all the Italian conditions and the Italians withdrew from Corfu on September 27, 1923. It was a huge diplomatic victory for the fascist Mussolini who already collapsed in its infancy, the prestige of the League of Nations, brutally humiliated Greece and he laid the foundations for his future claims which were also claims of the democratic Italian governments against Greece as the two countries operated in this vital space. It is worth noting that the killers were never found.