Greek journalist Yiorgos Trangas fined for calling Angela Merkel a 'dirty Berlin slut'

GlobalPost

BERLIN, Germany — Greek journalist Yiorgos Trangas has attracted a €25,000 fine for referring to German Chancellor Angela Merkel as a "dirty Berlin slut."

The radio presenter used the derogatory term on Athens-based Real FM not once but twice, in September and October of last year, the Athens News website reported.

The Greek original, "ξεκωλιάρα του Βερολίνου," means literally "girl with an open a**hole," according to the English-language site, but can also refer metaphorically to someone who has no shame.

After listeners complained, the Greek broadcasting authority, ESR, reprimanded Trangas this week for abusing the Greek language and making obscene characterizations about the German chancellor. His station will have to pay the resulting fine, which amounts to more than $33,000.

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Wrists duly slapped, Trangas did not appear to be repentant.

"At 63, I'm being told that I'm a typical Balkan southerner, who is lazy and a schemer. Really! I've been working since I was 16! I've worked night and day for a half a century. So why are we told we're lazy and crooks?," he asked on morning TV.

Trangas is well known for his resentment of what he perceives as Germany's imperialism over its struggling euro-zone neighbours. Back in 2010, months after the start of violent demonstrations against Greek austerity measures, German magazine Der Spiegel reported on Trangas's calls for a boycott of German products and diatribes against "German corruption."

More recently Trangas has resorted to Nazi stereotypes, accusing Berlin of making Greece "a German protectorate of the Fourth Reich in southern Europe," the Spiegel noted.

Germans have been known to Greek-bait back, however. Last year German magazine Focus ran a front cover featuring the iconic Venus de Milo statue, middle finger up, a stained Greek flag round her waist, under the headline: "Cheats in the euro family." Ten journalists were sued for libel in Athens over the offending issue.

Yet the war of words may well be confined to the media. Hundreds of Greeks a day are signing up for German classes in Athens, Reuters reported this week – meaning that they'll soon be able to offer the exact translation of what Merkel's critics are calling her.

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