New Challenges on the Maritime Boundaries Delimitation Dispute Between Greece and Albania in the Corfu Channel

Abstract

The Albanian-Greek maritime border in the Straits of Corfu region and the Ionian Sea reflects a complicated geographical, historical, and political reality, which constitutes a special characteristic of the Balkan Peninsula coastal region as a whole. For many centuries, the navigational routes of the Strait of Otranto and the Corfu Channel were characterized as important strategic, military, and commercial seaways for the ancient peoples of the region. In this respect, even though the Albanian-Greek southern border region has been at the center of conflicts and disagreements between these countries for many years, the problem is not thought to be completely related to the specific delimitation of the maritime borderline. The interstate maritime boundary is official and internationally recognized and is shown on all official political maps as an international borderline. The Albanian-Greek borderline is a product that came as a result of the Balkan Wars and the First World War, in which there was a great involvement and influence of the Great Powers’ diplomacy. Nowadays, the possibility of Albania-Greece interstate conflicts over the southern border area and maritime borders exists. In this context, ethnographic complexity is considered problematic due to the existence of the Greek minority in Albania, as well as Albanian immigrants living in Greece. On the other hand, the natural resources that possess the maritime regions of the Corfu Channel and the Ionian Sea are another reason for the dispute over the maritime border. However, according to US security institutions, these cross-border disputes between these states may only remain at the political level and not degrade further.