Upon the prime minister of Greece,
Kyriakos Mitsotakis’s recent two day visit to London for a meeting with his
British counterpart Boris Johnson, there was reference to the return of the
Parthenon Marbles. Even though in a public announcement in 2012, Boris Johnson
was in favour of their return to Greece, he now supports that their return to
Athens would be an irredeemable loss for the British museum, emphasising the
legality of their possession through a non-existent decree by the Ottoman
occupiers of the time. As if we don’t all know that the Acropolis was looted by
Elgin who literally stripped it and took anything he could find. Whatever he
couldn’t remove, he broke and destroyed with sledge hammers and saws. His work
was so great that his name was given to the Parthenon marbles.
In an interview on the British
television network ITV, Kyriakos Mitsotakis was asked if the Government of
Greece is willing to loan or donate another Hellenic Cultural artefact to Great
Britain in exchange for the return of the Parthenon Marbles. He replied that he
will not negotiate but looks for a solution to the problem in good faith saying
that Greece could offer other showpieces and iconic artefacts that have never
left the country, not only to the British museum, but to other museums around
the globe. We must say here that this is a good proposal by Mr. Mitsotakis, but
for the increase in revenues of Museums world-wide, instead of attending to, as
is his duty, the creation of Museums in Greece to showcase the incomparable
beauty of cultural treasures making our homeland a national attraction for
visits, with utmost contribution to its development.
This is the ethos of our Leaders,
even though the majority of British citizens have stated their dissatisfaction
of this disgraceful seizure of an inheritance that does not belong to them and
stigmatises them for centuries.
The communicative games continue.
All of them apparently fight and struggle for the restoration of justice, but
with no result. We have seen the handling of the situation by all parties that
have governed Greece and have realised that there is no will in solving the
matter.
Only a government of true Hellenes
can demand the Rights of our Nation.
Ellinon Syneleysis will reinstate
Greece in the position it deserves on the global stage with strict political
actions, without fictitious negotiations and agreements just to make a domestic
impression.
