Deputy FM tales Nike of Samothraki statue personally

Deputy Foreign Minister Kyriakos Gerontopoulos, referring to a campaign by the Louvre Museum to collect one million euros in donations to maintain and restore the Nike of Samothrace statue, said on Friday, "If the French have a problem, we are prepared to both maintain and showcase it, provided that they return the statue."

Gerontopoulos made his comments in an interview to private Skai radio and clarified that he was responding solely as a citizen and as a person from the Evros prefecture, to which the island of Samothraki belongs.

"Samothraki is a wonderful island, the Nike was found there, the archaeological site it was found at is there as well, as is its museum, therefore we Evros residents can promote it best," Gerontopoulos said, adding that "the region's antiquities service is doing very important work in Samothraki and its natural beauty is being promoted more and more on a daily basis, but its archaeological treasures are being promoted above all. For us, Samothraki is a diamond in the region of Thrace," he concluded.

This is the 150th anniversary of the finding of the statue on the island by the French.