A diplomatic row is deepening between NATO allies United Kingdom and Greece over the possession or re-unification of the Parthenon Sculptures during the Greek Prime Minister’s visit to the UK. As per the scheduled visit, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis was slated to meet with UK PM Rishi Sunak on Tuesday afternoon (28th November).
However, Rishi Sunak cancelled his meeting at the eleventh hour after Mitsotakis raised the issue of the return of Parthenon sculptures to Athens while talking with the state-run British media house, BBC.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis accused his British counterpart Rishi Sunak of canceling a meeting in an ongoing row over the Parthenon Sculptures, which have been a sore subject between the two countries https://t.co/N8cG8We7Go pic.twitter.com/0pD1a2ZxB9
— Reuters (@Reuters) November 28, 2023
The UK government believed that it had assurances from the Greek Prime Minister that he would not speak publicly about the Parthenon Sculptures on his UK visit, as reported by BBC. However, the Greek sources denied giving any such assurances to the UK side.
They said discussions preparing for the meeting with the UK PM had been smooth until late afternoon on Monday. This happened long after Mitsotakis’s BBC interview with Laura Kuenssberg on Sunday (26th Sunday). In his BBC interview, the Greek Prime Minister said that he would push for the return of the Parthenon Marbles when he meets UK leader Rishi Sunak in Britain this week.
Official responses after the meeting got cancelled
On Monday evening, while speaking with reporters about the cancellation, Mitsotakis said that he was “deeply disappointed by the abrupt cancellation” of the meeting, which had been planned for Tuesday lunchtime.
Taking a jibe at the UK government, he said, “Those who firmly believe in the correctness and justice of their positions are never hesitant to engage in constructive argumentation and debate.”
Additionally, Greek government sources suggested that Mitsotakis was both “baffled” and “annoyed” after Rishi Sunak cancelled the meeting.
Later on Tuesday morning (28th November), Greek government spokesperson Pavlos Marinakis told SKAI TV that “Britain’s attitude shows no respect for the prime minister and our country”, as reported by BBC.
However, he hinted that the Greek government didn’t want to escalate the issue considering their good relations with the United Kingdom.
He added that although cancelling a meeting was not “common”, the Greek government did not want “to escalate the issue with a country with which we have good relations.”
Additionally, a former member of the advisory committee for the Greek Minister of Culture, Professor Irene Stamatoudi said that the row made “Rishi Sunak look no better than Lord Elgin”. The Greek official accused the (UK) diplomat of smuggling artifacts “to decorate his country house in Scotland”.
Speaking with British media, she said that it was “not possible” for the Greek PM not to respond to questions about the Parthenon Sculptures.
Is the UK side acting ‘rude’?
On Tuesday (28th November), Speaking with BBC Breakfast, Transport Secretary Mark Harper said that it was a “matter of regret” that no meeting would take place between the two countries after Mitsotakis declined a secondary offer to meet Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden instead.
Responding to the query ‘whether the government’s treatment of the Greek leader was rude’, Harper said the Greeks had been offered a senior-level meeting but (the Greek side was) entitled to take their own view.
The chairperson of the advisory board of the Parthenon Project dedicated to returning the “Elgin Marbles” to Greece, Lord Vaizey told the Today programme that it was “odd” for the PM to cancel the meeting.
The ex-culture minister said, “It is tied up to a certain extent in the traditional culture wars, where anyone who dares to say that British history wasn’t perfect is somehow unpatriotic. The trouble with that is that, from what I can gather, every opinion poll that surveys the British public says that they do think that the sculptures should be returned.”
The key Opposition party in the UK, Labour Party’s response over the issue
During his visit to the UK, Greek PM Mitsotakis met Labour leader Keir Starmer on Monday (27th November). UK’s Labour party tried to exploit the diplomatic row for political gains and called the ongoing development ‘pathetic’.
However, it was caught in a fix after a Greek newspaper claimed that Labour was open to “a legal formula” for the return of the sculptures to Greece. Following the reports in Greek media, Labour distanced itself stating its position is that if the British Museum and the Greek government came to a loan agreement, a Labour government would not stand in the way.
Meanwhile, the UK government’s spokesperson said that there were “no plans” to change the 1963 British Museum Act. The act prohibits the removal of objects from the institution’s collection. However, a loan could happen irrespective of the position the UK PM takes as it does not require a change in the law.
How Britain got the Parthenon temple sculptures from Athens
It is important to note that the sculptures were taken from the Parthenon temple (built 447-432 BC) at the Acropolis in Athens in the early 19th century by British diplomat Thomas Bruce who was the earl of Elgin. Elgin claimed that the sculptures were better off in Britain than the then-dilapidated Parthenon. As per British media, in 1801, he negotiated what he claimed was permission from the Ottoman Empire – which then controlled Athens. The so-called permission was to “remove” statues from the classical temple built by the Ancient Greeks. In doing so, it caused some damage to the sculptures as well.
Notorious for its appropriation, the British side started referring to the Parthenon sculptures as “Elgin Marbles”.
The sculptures include Friezes and pediment figures, about a half (some 75 metres) of the sculpted Frieze, and 17 life-sized marble figures. Reportedly, nearly half of the surviving sculptures are equally divided between London and Athens. Additionally, Fragments from the Parthenon alone ended up in around 10 European countries or were lost.
Since 1832, the Parthenon sculptures have been in the British Museum, barring a stint in Aldwych Tube station to prevent World War 2 damage. One sculpture was loaned to a Russian museum in 2014. Strikingly, three marble fragments of the Parthenon temple were returned to Greece earlier this year. They had been held by the Vatican for centuries.
The issue of these Parthenon sculptures had been a long-standing issue between Greece and the UK as the former maintains that the Parthenon sculptures were “stolen”.
However, the latest row erupted when the Greek PM raised the issue while speaking with BBC.
Speaking with Laura Kuenssberg the day before his meeting with UK PM Rishi Sunak which was cancelled, the Greek PM had called for the sculptures to be returned.
He said they were “essentially stolen”. He, however, called for a partnership with the British Museum so people could “appreciate” the works “in their original setting”, as reported by BBC.
He said, “They do look better in the Acropolis Museum, a state-of-the-art museum that was built for that purpose.”
Citing Mona Lisa, he noted, “It’s as if I told you that you would cut the Mona Lisa in half, and you will have half of it at the Louvre and half of it at the British Museum, do you think your viewers would appreciate the beauty of the painting in such a way? This is exactly what happened with the Parthenon sculptures”.
However, his remarks didn’t go well with the UK government and Rishi Sunak cancelled the scheduled meeting with Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis initiating the recent diplomatic row between the two nations.
