Filenews 24 April 2024 - by Dora Christodoulou
A new campaign for the return of the Parthenon Marbles to Greece, starts this time in Cyprus. At the initiative of Michalakis Law Firm Kyprianou and Co LLC, a legal battle is launched to force the UK government to return the archaeological treasures to Greece, calling on Cypriot citizens to support it under the slogan: "Hellenism at home".
This is an initiative of particular importance, since this legal house of Cyprus is the one that had pioneered and promoted the legal battle of the Republic of Cyprus in international legal forums for the return of the treasures of Kanakaria.
Speaking to "F", one of Michalakis' partners Kyprianou and Co LLC and director of the company's Paphos offices, Savvas Savvides, stressed that in addition to the efforts made at political and social level, it is time to take an initiative at international legal level for the Parthenon Marbles in order to oblige Britain to return the stolen treasures. as was the case with the cutting of the religious treasures of Cyprus from the occupied areas.
Hearing former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson at an event in Washington at the Georgetown University Policy Institute cite as a reason to defend not to return the Parthenon Sculptures to Greece and to remain in Britain not to strip the metropolitan museums of Europe and the US it really saddens me because as a former prime minister he makes an unsubstantiated claim that really makes me wonder what era we live in. emphasizes Mr. Savvides.
Nowadays, when the entire institutional framework of the European Union and not only, takes care to educate people about their rights as they are founded by the supreme European law, how can an entire state, and especially until recently a European state, blatantly violate these fundamental rights?
Any such attempt, he stresses, constitutes theft of cultural heritage with all the legal consequences that such an act brings. Even in our own Cyprus, when the rare mosaics of the 4th century were stolen from the vandalized church in the village of Lythrankomi during the Turkish invasion, the court ordered their return, Mr. Savvides observed.
In this day and age, when the issue of democracy is a sensitive issue that touches everyone and all of us are daily observers of condemnation for any human rights abuses, Britain cannot close its ears to opinion polls that say Greek sculptures should be returned to Greece. recalling that when in 1986 Boris Johnson was a student, after a meeting with the then Minister of Culture of Greece, Melina Mercouri, he wrote an article in favor of the return of the Parthenon sculptures.
Apparently at the time he was inundated with sincere feelings and did not blindly serve a political agenda, he stresses. In 1986 he not only believed that sculptures should be displayed "where they belong", but also deplored how they were detached from the imposing edifice they once adorned:
"The Elgin Marbles should leave this northern, culture of guilt and whiskey-drinking and be exposed where they belong: a land of bright sunlight and the land of Achilles," he wrote in the article. With all due respect, Mr. Johnson, I correct you to your above reference. We are not talking about Elignian marbles, but about the Parthenon marbles.
Frustration and anger at the attitude of the British must be replaced with acts of substance and we must now seek our rights through justice. We did it then with the mosaics of Kanakaria and we can do it now, he stresses. Let's start today, as little Cyprus, the great struggle for the return of the Parthenon sculptures.
We call on everyone to support this effort, as Greeks who have a moral obligation to our children to fight for mythology to return to its home. Join forces with us to take legal action to return the Parthenon sculptures. He supported the effort by spreading everywhere "Hellenism at home", he concludes.
