During the visit of the Minister of Culture Lina Mendoni to Rhodes, for the opening of Pervola, when asked about the developments in the issue of the Parthenon Sculpturesfocusing on the UNESCO Intergovernmental Conference, made the following statement:

“On Friday night, the work of its special intergovernmental committee was completed Unescowhich concerns the debate surrounding the return of illegally exported cultural goods to their countries of origin.

As is known for the last 40 years, one of the permanent topics on the agenda concerns the Parthenon Sculptures. And this time, the committee reached a recommendation where it calls on the two sides, the British and the Greek, to resolve this issue which dates back several decades.

One of the interesting points of the session was the discussion that took place, around the famous -in quotes- “firmani” of Elgin. I put this in quotation marks because this is an argument from the British side which has been proven not to be genuine. There was never an Ottoman firman which allowed Elgin to treat the Parthenon Sculptures with the brutality he treated. At the meeting a representative of Turkey confirmed what the Greek side has been supporting for years. That there was no firman”.

“Greece is always open to dialogue. He has tried and will continue to try, so that the great national goal, which is the satisfaction of the national request of the reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures in Athens, at the Acropolis Museum, becomes a reality,” the Minister of Culture added.