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).

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 Crete, an Ottoman province since 1669, was a particular case. Since the Greek War of Independence broke out in 1821, the Christian Cretans had repeatedly risen in revolt against the Ottoman Empire, seeking union with Greece, most notably in the Cretan Revolution of 1866–69. More recently, since 1875, the island had been again in a state of revolt, and a revolutionary committee of leading Christian Cretans had been formed.

As a first gesture of conciliation, the Sultan had for the first time appointed a Christian Greek, Kostakis Adosidis Pasha, as Governor-General (vali) of the island, and following the Treaty of Berlin, Muhtar Pasha was sent to the island for negotiations with the Revolutionary Committee.

On 15 October (27 October Gregorian) 1878, a 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:

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