Sunak revived the debate over the Parthenon Marbles and accused his Greek counterpart of “bravado”

british prime minister, Rishi Sunak sparked a diplomatic dispute with Athens on Wednesday by accusing his Greek counterpart Kyriakos Mitsotakis of “exaggeration.” When referring to the ownership of the Parthenon sculptures during his recent trip to London.

Sunak told Parliament that he canceled a meeting with Mitsotakis in London on Tuesday after the Greek Prime Minister failed to keep his promise not to use his trip to advocate for the British Museum to return the sculptures, known in Britain as “sculptures.” Elgin marble.

In his first public comments, Sunak said: “It was clear that the purpose of the meeting was not to discuss the fundamental issues of the future, but rather to discuss and address issues of the past.”

In response to Sunak’s comments, a senior Greek government official said: “In the spirit of the good, long-term relations between the two countries, which we seek to maintain, we have nothing to add in this regard.”

Sunak canceled the meeting after Mitsotakis raised the issue during a newspaper interview BBC weekend. The cancellation sparked an angry reaction from MitsotakisGreek government officials said it was disrespectful.

On Wednesday, Mitsotakis appeared ready to tone down his rhetoric and called for the meeting to be cancelled “An unfortunate event.”

“I believe that this measure will not harm long-term relations between Greece and the United Kingdom,” he told Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou, adding that Athens’ demand to reunite the Parthenon sculptures had received more publicity than expected due to the unrest.

Athens has repeatedly asked the British Museum to permanently return the 2,500-year-old sculptures that British diplomat Lord Elgin took from the Parthenon in 1806, during a period when Greece was under Ottoman Turkish rule.

About half of the 160-meter-long frieze that adorned the Parthenon in Athens is in the British Museum, while 50 meters of sculptures are in the Acropolis Museum in Greece.

During the interview conducted on Sunday in BBC, Mitsotakis He likened separating the sculptures to cutting the Mona Lisa in halfThis is a description rejected by the British government. Greek officials said that Mitsotakis only emphasized his country’s firm position.

The British Museum said it would not consider loaning Greece unless it acknowledged ownership of the sculptures, something Greek governments have refused to do.

Greece denounces ‘Lack of respect’ from the UK Through the Parthenon sculptures.

(Information from Reuters)