Strait of Corfu
| Strait of Corfu | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
||
| Connects waters | Ionian sea | |
| with water | ||
| Separates land mass | Corfu | |
| of land mass | Albanian mainland | |
| Data | ||
| Geographical location | 39 ° 45 '29 " N , 19 ° 57' 43" E | |
|
||
| length | 8 kilometers | |
| Smallest width | 2.05 km | |
| Coastal towns | Kassiopi , Ksamil | |
 |
||
The Strait of Corfu ( Greek Πορθμός της Κέρκυρας , Albanian Kanali i Korfuzit ) is a strait between the northern end of the Greek island of Corfu in the west and the Albanian mainland in the east. On the western bank of the road are the villages of Agios Stefanos , Kalami and a little to the north Kassiopi , above which the Pantocrator rises. Opposite them lies the village of Ksamil on the Albanian side on a peninsula running parallel to the strait, which separates Lake Butrint from the sea and whose westernmost point is called Kepi i Skales . The Strait of Corfu is part of the Ionian Sea . At the narrowest point, the sea is only about 2,050 meters wide.
The Strait of Corfu is an important shipping route , which is mainly crossed by ferries on the way between the Greek ports of Kerkyra and Igoumenitsa as well as Italy. There is no ferry connection across the strait. On the other hand, boats run daily between the cities of Kerkyra in the south and Saranda in the north, some 30 kilometers away . The Strait of Corfu lies entirely in Greek and Albanian territorial waters , but a non-suspendable right of peaceful passage applies .
At the northern exit of the narrow point is the Peristeres rock ( Greek Περιστερ derς ). On the uninhabited island there is a 17 meter high lighthouse from 1872. A first beacon was set up here in 1828. Ships pass the islet both on the approximately one kilometer narrow passage between it and Corfu and on the eastern side to the mainland, where the passage is around three kilometers wide, but there are further shoals. In September 2014 the Europalink ferry collided with the rock, but still reached the port of Kerkyra with an accident.
To the east of the Peristeres rock, just off the Albanian coast, lie the Ksamil Islands .
After the Second World War , the Strait of Corfu was the interface between west and east and one of the first scenes of the Cold War : The Corfu Canal Incident was a series of events in 1946 in which Royal Navy ships were damaged in these waters . British warships were shot at in May. In October, British warships ran on mines , whereby they were badly damaged and 43 sailors died. The British government blamed Albania for laying the mines and thereby blocking international shipping routes. The third event was a British mine clearance operation in Albanian waters in October that sparked protests from Albania.
During communist rule, some Albanians tried to flee from the peninsula near Ksamil by swimming across the road from Corfu to Greece. Only one successful escape is documented. Several refugees were shot and others drowned. Most were caught by the police or the sigurimi .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ According to Section III of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea , see text of the Convention
- ↑ Lighthouse Peristeres aka Kaparelli. In: faroi.com. Retrieved October 1, 2014 .