ATHENS (Reuters) – Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis accused his British counterpart Rishi Sunak of cancelling a scheduled meeting in London on Tuesday in a row over the status of the Parthenon Sculptures.
Athens has repeatedly asked the British Museum to permanently return the 2,500-year-old sculptures that British diplomat Lord Elgin removed from the Parthenon temple in the early 19th century when he was ambassador to the Ottoman Empire.
“I express my annoyance that the British Prime Minister cancelled our planned meeting just hours before it was due to take place,” Mitsotakis said in a statement.
“Greece’s positions on the issue of the Parthenon Sculptures are well known. I had hoped to have the opportunity to discuss them with my British counterpart. Anyone who believes in the rightness and justice of his positions is never afraid of confronting arguments” he said.
Talks over a possible return of the Parthenon Sculptures – known in Britain as the Elgin Marbles – are not advancing quickly enough, Mitsotakis told the BBC on Sunday.
The British Museum has always rejected returning the parts in its collection, which include about half of the 160 metre (525 ft) frieze that adorned the Parthenon. The museum maintains they were acquired legally, citing British laws which prevent removing objects from the collection apart from in certain circumstances.
Mitsotakis said at the weekend that the continued presence of the sculptures in the British Museum was like cutting the “Mona Lisa in half”.
A spokesman for Sunak on Monday rejected that description and said there were no plans to return them. Sunak’s office declined to comment on why the meeting was cancelled.
(Reporting by Renee Maltezou; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
