By Gifts Antoniou

A solution to the Gordian bond of ownership of the Sinai Monastery is sought by executives of the Greek negotiating team, as time counts. The encouragement of the Egyptian side when completing the meeting of the previous week in Cairo was ‘Send us suggestions’ that will allow the impasse to be lifted. The concern that exists in both members of the Sinai community and officials of the negotiating team is not to lead the process to a prolonged debate while at the same time, on the basis of a recent court ruling, a new regime will be consolidated.

The fact that the Egyptian side insisted too much In the legal dimension of the subject And he quoted a number of legal arguments, making it even more demanding. It is clear that those who were expecting a political solution that would overcome any restrictions on the court ruling are probably denied.

It is indicative that the meeting of the previous week even referred to a 1981 legislation, which, as noted by an Egyptian side, stipulated that The ownership of land is not permitted in the Sinai area.

From the Greek side, in response to this, it is stated that in the application filed by Egypt for the official registration of the monastery in the UNESCO World Heritage Sites, in which the monastery has been included since 2002, had recognized the ownership of the monastery in its assets and facilities. Another point that the Greek side considers particularly important and integrated into its arguments is that the monastery’s facilities They are in the status of uninterrupted use by the monastic community From its founding 15 centuries ago.

Regarding the reference to the 1981 ownership law in Sinai, sources near the monastic community say that the relevant legislation had been made for national reasons to protect the area from a possible organized attempt by third -country nationals to proceed with mass markets. When this issue was first raised, it was answered by the monastery that there would be no objection to a clear prediction that are not able to sell the monastery’s propertiesin order to overcome this fear.

Yesterday, the Archbishop Sinai Damianos He contacted the Speaker of Parliament, Nikita Kaklamanis, whom he personally thanked for the letter he sent to the Speaker of the House of Representatives of Egypt, in which he exposes his views on the legal and property regime of the monastery.

Archbishop Damianos reportedly told Mr Kaklamanis that if he considers it appropriate, he would convene the Committees of Foreign and Defense, Education and Official Hellenism in joint meetingin order to be informed by representatives of the monastery about the case, the historical and the new data.

It should be noted that the Speaker of the House in his letter, among other things, points out that the legal status of the monastery is treated by Greece and internationally as issue of international lawas evidenced by the provisions of the 1972 UNESCO Convention on World Cultural and Natural Heritage. A contract in which Egypt has joined and has excessive formal validity of the national legislation of the states that have adopted it. Something that, as the Speaker of the House points out, means that Egypt cannot oppose anyone and to Greece, its internal law and the judicial decisions that apply it. On the basis of the above, he points out that Egypt has an international obligation to fully respect the character and active function of the monastery as a World Heritage Sitewhich constitutes the center of Orthodox spirituality, utilizing at will, at all, in 2002 and earlier assets.