A long-running feud over a chewy Cypriot cheese was reignited this week over an application to grant it European protected status.
The application by the island’s Greek government to register halloumi cheese as a protected designation of origin (PDO) was condemned by a Turkish Cypriot lobby group as “nothing more than an attempt to hijack what is one of our most traditional and significant products”.
Fevzi Hussein, chairman of the Embargoed! group, said in an open letter to the EU’s enlargement commissioner that “Turkish Cypriot producers have not been consulted during the national registration process”.
PDOs are used to restrict the manufacturing of products to a particular region and prevent copycat items. Numerous examples are in force across the European Union today: no sparkling wine other than those produced in France’s Champagne region can be described as such, while stilton cheese can only be made in Derbyshire, Leicestershire or Nottingham.
Turkish Cypriots have argued that granting an exclusive PDO to the Greek-led Republic of Cyprus could prevent Turks from using the “halloumi” label on the cheese it produces.
Mr Hussein’s letter continued: “Despite the Greek Cypriot application being for the whole island of Cyprus, the Greek Cypriot authorities have refused to include in their PDO application this or any other control body in the Turkish Cypriot community. This is not acceptable.”
Londra Gazete reported last year that the Greek Cypriot government had promised during bicommunal talks with the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus to also use “hellim”, the Turkish word for the cheese, as part of a new PDO application.
But peace talks between the two sides have since collapsed, casting doubt on the outcome of the application.
Fevzi Hussein’s letter can be read in full on our website, LondraGazete.com.