Greeks enrol top PR in fight for Marbles

Greece has hired one of the world's leading public relations companies in a
fresh attempt to get the Elgin Marbles returned to Athens.
The Greek Ministry of Culture is employing Burson Marsteller, the world's
fourth biggest PR company, as part of its attempt to reclaim the artefacts
in time for this year's Olympic Games.

A Greek-backed campaign for the return of the 2,500-year-old marbles, which
were removed by Lord Elgin, the former British ambassador to Greece, between
1803 and 1812, has been running for more than 40 years, but with little
success.
The British Museum, which houses the stones, has refused to hand them over
despite a well-publicised campaign that has been supported by MPs and public
figures including Dame Judi Dench, Vanessa Redgrave and Julie Christie.
The Greeks have turned to Burson Marsteller - which represents such diverse
clients as the Iraqi National Congress, Tesco, Visa and Shell - because of
its past success in crisis management, includingproviding advice to the
American Three Mile Island nuclear plant in the wake of the disaster there,
and to Union Cardbide following the disaster in Bhopal, India.
An opinion poll, commissioned by the company and published today, shows that
a majority of people in Britain and among the British Museum's visitors
support a return of the marbles to Greece.
Nicholas Papadakis, the press counsellor at the Greek Embassy, said: "We are
optimistic that there may be a breakthrough in the run up to the Olympics."

By Chris Hastings, Media Correspondent
(Filed: 11/01/2004)
From:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk