From 1895, following the Hamidian massacres of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire; Cretan Christians, then under Ottoman domination, demanded self-government on their island under the protection of the great powers. Massacres of Christians by Muslims led Greece to intervene, first by accepting the departure of volunteers from its shores, then by more and more directly sending part of its fleet, followed by troops at the beginning of 1897 just when Cretans themselves declared "enosis" (union with Greece). The intervention of the European powers (France, Great Britain, Italy, Russia, Austria-Hungary and Germany) forced Greece to back down. The opposition criticised the feebleness and indecisiveness of the government, which declared war on the Ottomans at the beginning of April. Fighting lasted a month, which gave its name to the conflict (the Thirty Days' War); the Greek defeat was thorough. Although Greece lost only small amounts territory on its northern border, it was forced to pay huge war reparations of 4 million Ottoman pounds to the victor. Coming on the heels of the public insolvency declared in 1893, it meant that Greece had to accept an International Financial Control commission (Διεθνής Οικονομικός Έλεγχος), which in effect diverted the Greek state's main income sources (state monopolies and port customs tariffs) to the repayment of Greece's public loans. Crete however became an autonomous state under international supervision, while remaining under the Sultan's suzerainty.