Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Thursday, several months after a diplomatic spat with Britain, reiterated his call for London to return the Parthenon marble sculptures from the British Museum to Athens. This was reported by Reuters, according to UNN.
Details
In his first public statement on the issue since November, Mitsotakis said that his government was negotiating with the head of the British Museum on an agreement to return the sculptures to the Acropolis Museum.
Let me be clear, we will insist on their reunification for many reasons. But one of them, in my opinion, is the most important. Only when we see them together, on site, in the shadow of the Acropolis, will we be able to truly appreciate their enormous cultural significance,
Athens has repeatedly called on the British Museum to permanently return the 2,500-year-old sculptures known in Britain as the "Elgin Marbles," which were taken from the Parthenon temple by British diplomat Lord Elgin in 1806 , when Greece was under the rule of Ottoman Turkey.
About half of the 160-meter frieze that decorated the Parthenon in Athens is in the British Museum, and 50 meters is in the Acropolis Museum.
Recall
In November, during an interview with the BBC in London, Mitsotakis compared the division of the sculptures to cutting the Mona Lisa in half.
Later, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak canceled a scheduled meeting with Mitsotakis.