Are we bound to work, Greek attaché complains

ISTANBUL – Hürriyet Daily News

Gioltzoglou [Yolcuoğlu in Turkish] said his surname originated from his grandfather in the Black Sea province of Samsun. AA photo

Do you slave away the salt mines – day in, day out – yearning for a respite from the drudgery that never comes? If so, you share something in common with Greece's education and culture attaché, Stauros Gioltzioglou.

“Are we here in this world just to work?” the attaché asked during a recent lecture at Okan University while taking potshots at the German approach to work.

“Germans say Greeks are lazy. They work 330 days and come to our country on vacation for 30 days. Will I work for bankers? Where else could I find a pleasure like drinking a coffee with a Turkish friend on the Bosphorus?” he said.

Gioltzioglou also hinted that life was a bit short. “We live for 60-70 years, at most 80 years, let’s say.”

The official was not available for immediate comment on his reported remarks at the university.

The attaché also said German Chancellor Angela Merkel had become a “figure of hate" in Greece because of the tough spending cuts imposed on the country in return for promised loans and debt relief.

Gioltzoglou [Yolcuoğlu in Turkish] said his surname originated from his grandfather in the northern province of Samsun that had migrated during the population exchange in the 1920s.

The attaché also said Greek people liked to go on strike and organize demonstrations. “Some 120,000 people demonstrated in Greece when Gen. Kenan Evren staged a coup [in Turkey] in 1980. Democracy is in the grassroots of Greece.”