Greek delegation heads to Egypt amid controversy 

A delegation of Greek authorities representatives will travel to Egypt connected Wednesday for talks aimed astatine finalizing an statement betwixt Athens and Cairo that would settee the status of the Greek Orthodox Monastery of Saint Catherine of Sinai, pursuing media reports of a arguable ruling by an Egyptian tribunal that could overturn cardinal parameters of the deal.

The gathering had primitively been scheduled for Monday but was postponed owed to the packed schedules of the two overseas ministers, George Gerapetritis and Badr Abdelatty.

Wednesday’s talks are expected to gauge if and to what grade the tribunal ruling signals a displacement successful Cairo’s presumption connected the agreement, which was finalized past December but has not yet been signed, contempt idiosyncratic assurances from Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

Only a portion of the court’s 160-page ruling was made nationalist past week, but this was capable to spark outrage successful the monastic assemblage and the enactment of the Greek Orthodox Church, who view the ruling arsenic an effort to wrest power of the monastery and its surrounding lands.

According to the portion of the ruling leaked by the media past week, the Egyptian authorities would beryllium granted power implicit onshore extracurricular the walls of the monastery that the monks trust connected for water and increasing crops that sustain the community.

It besides reportedly declares the full ιστοσελίδα arsenic an archaeological monument under the jurisdiction of the Egyptian government, while stipulating that the monastic assemblage will person usage rights implicit the monastery but nary proprietary status.