In July 1919, Tittoni and the Prime Minister of Greece, Eleftherios Venizelos, agreed on a secret non-binding agreement, known as the Venizelos–Tittoni agreement about the conflicting territorial claims of the two countries. Greece pledged to support the Italian claims over Vlorë and the establishment of an Italian protectorate over Albania. Greece would also secure for Italy a free zone at the port of Smyrna (under Greek administration from May 1919), while Italy pledged to support the Greek territorial claims over Northern Epirus and transfer the Dodecanese to Greece, except for the island of Rhodes, which would remain under Italian rule until such time as Cyprus would be ceded to Greece by Britain.