Norman Palmer

Campaigners advocating the return of the Parthenon Marbles expressed disappointment on Thursday at a statement by Alternate Minister for Culture Nikos Xydakis suggesting that Athens would opt for political and diplomatic routes over a legal one to secure the priceless artifacts.

The issue of Greece’s standing demand for the repatriation of the Parthenon Marbles from the British Museum has generated renewed interest by a portion of the UK press recently, with the Guardian, Telegraph and BBC all touching on the issue.

Diplomacy rather than litigation will help Greece win its claim for the return of the Parthenon Marbles from the British Museum, Alternate Minister for Culture Nikos Xydakis said in an interview on Wednesday.

?On the one hand, you can?t file a suit over any issue, and, on the other, the outcome in international courts is never certain,? Xydakis told Mega TV.

Daily Kathimerini reports that the Greek Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA) government must decide whether it wants to take legal recourse for the return of the Parthenon Marbles from the British Museum. A confidential memo sent to the Ministry of Culture by three global lawyers of the Doughty Street Chambers encourages Greece to take the UK to court over the sculptures.

Rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin Clooney and her eminent colleague Geoffrey Robertson are due in Athens on Monday for talks with Prime Minister Antonis Samaras which are expected to focus on legal arguments Greece can use in its bid to retrieve the Parthenon Marbles from the British Museum.