Kyriakos Mitsotakis expressed annoyance, noting that he had intended to discuss the return of the Parthenon marble from the British Museum to Greece with Rishi Sunak at the meeting.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak disrupted a meeting scheduled for Tuesday, November 28, with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis just hours before the event, according to the Greek prime minister's website.
Mitsotakis expressed concern over the matter and noted with regret that he had intended not only to discuss the return of the Parthenon sculptures and marble pediments from the British Museum to Athens, but also to touch on international issues. In particular, the conflict in the Middle East between Gaza and Israel, the situation in Ukraine, as well as migration and the climate crisis.
"Greece and the UK are united by traditional ties of friendship and the scope of our bilateral relations is extremely broad," Kyriakos Mitsotakis emphasized in his statement.
It should be noted that the Greek Prime Minister is currently in London on a working visit.
Recall, a collection of Parthenon artifacts came to England in 1802 with the permission of the then ruling in Greece Turks. In 1816, the collection of marble sculptures, actually stolen, as the Greeks believe, was in the British Museum in London.
Greece seeks the return of the historical monuments to their homeland, while London assures that England legally received the Parthenon marble masterpieces at the time.