Greek FM Gerapetritis to visit Cairo Wednesday

Greek Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis will visit Cairo to meet with his Egyptian counterpart Badr Abdelaty, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced Sunday.

He will be accompanied by officials from the Ministries of Education and Religious Affairs and Culture and Sports, the ministry said.

A Foreign Ministry delegation will visit Cairo Monday for talks on the status of the Greek Orthodox monastery of Saint Catherine on Mount Sinai.

The visit comes on the heels of an Egyptian court’s decision stating that the areas surrounding the monastery, including its arable land and wells, are Egyptian state property and that the site would be under the supervision of the Supreme Council of Antiquities.

Athens fears that the decision will facilitate the transformation of the monastery from an active religious site to a museum for visiting tourists and pave the way for the eventual eviction of the monks, since only the monastery’s head, Archbishop Damianos, holds Egyptian citizenship.

During the recent visit by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to Athens, in early May, and the meeting of the bilateral Supreme Cooperation Council, there had been assurances from the Egyptian side that the monastery’s status will not change.

Source: ekathimerini.com