Under the Protocol of Corfu, the Principality of Albania officially recognized Northern Epirus as an autonomous self-governing region.

The Protocol of Corfu, signed on 17 May 1914, was an agreement between the representatives of the Albanian Government and the Provisional Government of Northern Epirus, which officially recognized the area of Northern Epirus as an autonomous self-governing region under the sovereignty of the prince of the newly established Principality of Albania. The agreement granted the Greeks of the districts of Korytsa (Korçë) and Argyrokastro (Gjirokastër), which form Northern Epirus, wider religious, educational, cultural and political autonomy, inside the borders of the Albanian state.

The Principality of Albania was a monarchy from 1914 to 1925. It was headed by Wilhelm, Prince of Albania, and located in modern Albania in the Balkan region of Europe. The Ottoman Empire owned the land until the First Balkan War (1912—1913), which ended in the Treaty of London that formed the principality. The Principality of Albania survived invasions during World War I (1914—1918) and subsequent disputes over Albanian independence during the Paris Peace Conference (1919—1920). In 1925, the monarchy was abolished and the Albanian Republic (1925—1928), a parliamentary republic and dictatorship, was declared.

Northern Epirus is a term used for specific parts of southern Albania which were first claimed by the Kingdom of Greece in the Balkan Wars and later were associated with the Greek minority in Albania and Greece-Albania diplomatic relations in the region. First used by Greece in 1913, upon the creation of the Albanian state following the Balkan Wars, it was originally used in a political and diplomatic context rather than a clearly defined geographical one. Today, the term is used mostly by Greeks and is associated with the existence of a substantial ethnic Greek minority in the region and had acquired in the past irredentist connotations.