Italy returns ancient coins, Yugoslavia raises the ire of Greece's Foreign Ministry

Two 'current events'-posts in a row, I know, but whenever I hear of news like this, I feel the strong need to share.

If everything went according to plan, Italy returned 80 ancient Hellenic coins to Greece yesterday, according to Ekathimerini, and that makes me very happy. The handover of the silver and bronze coins would have taken place at the sidelines of a meeting of thr European Union culture ministers in Turin. The coins date to between the 5th and 2nd centuries B.C. and originate from Macedonia, specifically the peninsula Halkidiki.

In other news, the vice president of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia’s (FYROM) Parliament, Antonio Milososki, has published a picture of himself and members of a group of climbers from Greece’s neighbouring country holding a flag bearing the Vergina Sun after climbing Mount Olympus on Twitter.

FYROM used the Vergina Sun, a symbol discovered at the tomb of Philip II at the archaeological site of Aigai (modern day Vergina in northern Greece), on its national flag between 1991 and 1995 but agreed under the terms of the 1995 interim accord with Greece to stop doing so. The Vergina Star was designated a Greek national symbol by the country's Parliament in 1993. Milososki told FYROM newspaper Vest that the flag he displayed was a 'historic Macedonian symbol':

“I always carried the flag with the 16-pointed Macedonian sun with me. Another member of the climbing group had the state flag with them. So we raised both flags at the peak of Mount Olympus and we took photographs with great satisfaction.”

The Greek government was not happy by Milososki's actions, and describes them as a 'provocation'. Foreign Ministry spokesman Constantinos Koutras:

"We thank Mr Milososki for visiting our country so he could be photographed within Greece, with a Greek national symbol. We would not encourage him to do the same as this would result in yet another breach of the Interim Accord and the Memorandum on Practical Measures. Provocations may justify Greek positions against all forms of irredentism but they do not help anyone, certainly not FYROM and its people."