Convention of Constantinople (1881)

With the outbreak of the Great Eastern Crisis in 1875, many in Greece saw an opportunity for realizing the Megali Idea and expanding the borders of the country northward at the expense of the Ottoman Empire.

[1] This passivity was reinforced by the fear of Pan-Slavism engendered by the recent crisis over the establishment of the Bulgarian Exarchate, which led to distrust towards suggestions for a co-operation of all Balkan states, particularly by King George.

[2] As the Eastern Crisis erupted into open warfare with the start of the Serbo-Turkish War in 1876, Russia, which was inexorably drawn towards military intervention in the conflict, moved to secure an arrangement with Austria at the Reichstadt Agreement.

Proposals by Serbia and Romania for a common cause were rebuffed, even though both stressed the need to act to prevent the emergence, under Russian auspices, of a "Greater Bulgaria".

Greece was thrown into a prolonged internal political crisis: the King on the one hand staunchly refused to agree to an alliance with Russia or the Balkan states, while Koumoundouros and his rival, Epameinondas Deligeorgis, alternated in office.

[5] The proposals of the Constantinople Conference, although rejected by the Ottoman government, were a shock to the Greek public: despite the "correct" behaviour recommended by the Powers, Greece saw her interests ignored, at the same time as Russia made headway in her plans for a "Greater Bulgaria".

[8] The terms of the treaty also shocked Britain, and caused a turn in British official thinking, away from the dogma of the territorial integrity of the Ottoman Empire—which now was seen as no longer tenable—towards using Greece as a bulwark against Russian-sponsored pan-Slavism.

Facing stiff Russian opposition, in the end a French proposal was adopted in which Greece would be invited to attend only sessions concerning its adjacent territories—Epirus and Thessaly—as well as Crete.

For centuries, transhumant Farsherot (Arvanitovlach) Aromanians from the area of Korçë, Dishnicë and Plasë had migrated to pastures in Thessaly during the winter, but the establishment of a border would make this movement impossible.