One can hardly recollect from the history of diplomacy that a European country’s broadsheet attacked the leader of an allied power with the most exquisite curses. Greece’s Eleutheri Ora printed a huge portrait of British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak with a huge inscription in English reading: "Fuck you bastard!" Moreover, the obscene language’s addressee is not entirely clear, whether it be Sunak or King Charles III, because above Sunak's photo there is a sizable picture of the British monarch, who has Greek roots, by the way. Apparently, the Greeks imply both.
Greece itself and other countries seem to have no complaints about the newspaper’s verbal assault, although both countries have been standing for the same values within NATO. And here's the deal.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak canceled his planned meeting with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis over public statements about the need for Greece to retain antique sculptures stolen by Britain 200 years ago and exported to England from the ancient Parthenon temple on Athens’ Acropolis. The treasures are over two and a half millennia old, and their fate has been a pressing problem in relations between Great Britain and Greece for many decades.
What is meant here is a unique collection of ancient Greek art masterpieces, mainly marble sculptures and reliefs of the Parthenon by Phidias the sculptor and his disciples (438-431 BC). They were stolen and brought to London in the early 19th century by British Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire Lord Elgin. The collection is known as the "Elgin Marbles" named after him. In 1801-1804, when Greece was reigned by the Ottomans, Lord Elgin bribed Turkish officials and ordered his "team" to take numerous sculptures away from the Parthenon. This inflicted major damage to the entire unique composition. In 1806, the pieces of art were transported to Great Britain, and 1816 saw the British government buy them from Lord Elgin and place at the British Museum. The Greeks claim it was theft, and the marbles must be returned to the Parthenon. In turn, the British insist that Elgin "took" was authorized by the Ottoman Empire to take the sculptures.
Before his meeting with head of the British cabinet, Kyriakos Mitsotakis told BBC that the Parthenon treasures stored in the British Museum should be brought back to their homeland. He compared keeping parts of the integral sculptural ensemble separately to "cutting the Mona Lisa in half."
Downing Street claims that the Greek leader has allegedly violated some kind of "agreement" not to dwell on the issue publicly, but Greek officials deny the deal as a matter of fact. As a result, the British Prime Minister’s Office informed the Greek side at the last minute that Sunak was unavailable, and invited his counterpart to meet with Vice PM Oliver Dowden. Outraged by humiliation of Mitsotakis and the whole of Greece, that country’s popular newspaper Eleutheri Ora deemed it unnecessary to maintain decorum and responded by telling Sunak to fuck off, probably along with King Charles III.
Greek political parties have unanimously condemned Sunak's decision, calling it "an insult and a serious diplomatic oversight." And aforementioned Eleutheri Ora notes in a long-read that this "diplomatic tactlessness" occurred just two weeks after Sunak appointed former PM David Cameron as UK Foreign Minister in a move that "should have given the Cabinet more weight." But things turned out the opposite. "Sunak's negligence will send a signal to other countries that the UK has yet to return to thoughtfulness in managing foreign affairs. British diplomacy should be aimed at making friends, not losing them," Eleutheria Ora states.
Meanwhile, the "Elgin Marbles" are not the only valuables the British stole from other nations. India is known to be demanding the return of the world's most famous precious stone — the royal crown’s Koh-i-Noor diamond, as well as other jewels taken to London during Britain's colonial rule in Asia. Official Delhi deems this as a "pay-off" for colonial past. Britain’s The Telegraph writes in this regard that India's demand will be quite an issue to Prime Minister Sunak. The newspaper hints at his origin, saying that Sunak will have to burst between Britain's wish to preserve a status quo and his tribesmen’s intention to make London pay down historical debts. All the same is true for Egyptian artifacts displayed in the British Museum.
Meanwhile, Sunak will not have to choose in the end. London has refused to return Greece’s ancient values for 200 years, and is hardly going to further on. India won't get anything either. And in general, it is not Sunak who makes decisions of the kind (like, apparently, many others). Small wonder that his photo neighbors upon that of King Charles III on Eleutheria Ore’s cover. The logic of the British monarchy is pretty understandable. If the Greeks get their "Elgin Marbles", the Indians will start claiming their valuables back in an even more convincing way. And then we will see a long queue of countries the British have robbed in one way or another. To begin with, nothing will remain of the British Museum, whose collection comprises foreign treasures and those taken by the British to their islands. It will become crystal clear to everyone (primarily those who have not yet apprehended this) that all of Britain’s wealth has resulted from centuries of robbery and abuse by its monarchy of other countries and peoples.
