Following Downing Street’s cancellation of a scheduled meeting in London, when the Greek prime minister was supposed to ask for the return of Greek artefacts housed in UK museums, Kyriakos Mitsotakis has blasted his British counterpart.
While visiting the UK on Monday, Mitsotakis addressed the postponed talks, bemoaning the lost opportunity for discussion and pointing out his nation’s “well known” desire to restore the ancient Parthenon statues that Britain has been holding onto.
“I would like to convey my frustration regarding the British prime minister’s decision to call off our planned meeting just hours before it was supposed to happen,” he stated. “One who is confident in the accuracy and fairness of their opinions never shies away from confronting counterarguments.”
After meeting with leaders of the Labour Party on Monday, the Greek PM was scheduled to have a meeting with UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. However, the negotiations were abruptly called off. The action was deemed “wrong and undignified” by Mitsotakis’ advisers. According to the BBC, the Greek prime minister turned down a different meeting with the deputy prime minister.
The decision to call off the meeting, according to officials accompanying Mitsotakis, was prompted by the Greek premier’s recent remarks to the BBC, in which he reiterated Athens’ long-standing requests for the return of the historic artefacts. Reuniting the statues with their native Greek temples would be appropriate, he continued, comparing the partition of the artwork between Greece and the UK to “cutting the Mona Lisa in half.”
Early in the nineteenth century, British diplomat Lord Elgin—who was then serving as the ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, which controlled over Greece—removed the antique marbles from the Parthenon temple in Greece. Since then, they have stayed in the UK’s ownership; the majority of the statues are housed at London’s British Museum.
Although the Guardian was initially informed by unidentified officials on 10 Downing Street that a schedule problem was the cause, the publication stated that Mitsotakis’ comments’seem to have upset Sunak to the extent that he had believed there was no reason to hold the talks.’
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A spokesman for Sunak stated in public that the connection between Greece and the UK is “hugely important,” but he made no mention of the dispute over the 2,500-year-old antiquities.
While Sunak has previously declared he would never accept revisions to 1963 legislation that forbids the British Museum from ever turning over the ancient carvings, Mitsotakis has emphasised the return of the antiquities numerous times since gaining government. The UK has consistently refused to grant the Greek government’s requests for their release, even turning down an offer from the UN to arbitrate the conflict when it was made in 1983.
