Athens - It is defamatory to call someone a Bulgarian because they come from the Greek Aegean port city of Thessaloniki, the Greek supreme court has ruled.
Its decision, reported in the press yesterday, was the latest episode in a row over a banned dictionary and regional sensitivities in the north-east Greek panhandle that borders on Bulgaria.
The affair was touched off when a linguist, Mr Georges Babiniotis, in his new dictionary defined "Bulgarian" as, among other things, a slur used by Thessaloniki soccer fans against a less-than-excellent player.
