By Emmanuel Bouhalakis
The huge and unprecedented diplomatic foul commited by British PM Rishi Sunak should never again be repeated. Publicly humiliating the Greek PM over a matter which is nowhere near the top of bilateral relations shows how immature and unfit for a statesman Mr. Sunak is.
The British public quickly criticized this diplomatic debacle by stating that Sunak behaved like a petulant child. Yet, this description does not fully cover the weird and insulting behaviour of the British PM against his Greek counterpart.
At a time when thousands of Greek students study in the UK and many Greek doctors support the faltering NHS and also when the eastern Mediterranean is aflame due to the Israeli - Palestinian conflict that could send thousands more immigrants to Europe, Mr. Sunak exhibited a ghastly behaviour, unworthy of the many years of cooperation between Greece and the UK.
Mr. Sunak, who is of Indian Punjabi descent, knows all too well how it is when another country rules over your homeland. That very same country he's now leading exercised rule over India for almost a century. Therefore, he ought to remember that the decisions of a conqueror can never be legitimate in the eyes of the enslaved people.
Thus, the so-called "permission" or "firman" Thomas Bruce (Lord Elgin) is said to have acquired from the Ottomans to remove parts of the Parthenon and the surrounding buildings, can not and will not be considered either lawful or moral in the entirety of human history. One simply cannot obtain property of another nation under licence by a conqueror, a foreign power that does not have any rights to the conquered land.
The claims that the Parthenon marbles were preserved in the British Museum after Elgin had sold them to the museum are not valid either.
Athens has had a remarkable archeological museum for many years now and Ottoman rule ended in the 1830s. The antiquities throughout the country are protected by law and maintained by specialized archeologists and conservation experts. Also, the possession or selling of antiquities is considered a criminal offence and carries a prison sentence.
In other words, the removal of the Parthenon marbles can be described by one word only: Looting.
Let Mr. Sunak delve into this word and learn its meaning in full.
Moreover, cancelling an official meeting with the Greek PM due to the latter's interview on BBC where he stated the obvious, that the marbles ought to come back to their homeland, shows lack of proper judgement and a hostile behaviour towards an ally.
The Greek government ought to fight back by whatever means necessary and be ready to resume negotiations with the next British PM, Sir Starmer.
This drivel ought to come to an end.
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