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The fight for the return to Athens of the Parthenon Marbles that are in the British Museum has transferred to the territory of neutral Switzerland. At two parallel discussions, one at the Polytechnic School in Zurich and the other at the University of Geneva, Swiss scientists supported the return of the statues and bas-reliefs, which are the subject of a 100-year long dispute between Greece and the United Kingdom.

    President of the Swiss Commission for the Parthenon Marbles Professor Dusan Sidjanski recommended that legal actions against the British Museum (which anyway cannot be legally defended in court) should not be taken but that the unique cultural significance of the Acropolis of Athens for European civilization should be emphasized. Other scientists recommended the use of the power of dialogue in order to convince both the British Museum and British public opinion of the moral obligation of returning these works of art to the new Acropolis Museum.

    The discussion in Zurich was personally attended by Ambassador of Greece in Switzerland Haralambos Manesis and in Geneva by Consul Angelos Ipsilandis as well as by many Greek students.