NEWS/TRNC
By İpek Özerim & John Oakes
Securing protected status for traditional Cypriot
cheese will benefit all producers on the island. However, the decision by Greek
Cypriots to make a unilateral application to the European Union while deliberately
excluding Turkish Cypriot producers not only turned this into a political issue,
but also left a bitter taste in North Cyprus. With the EU Commission intervening,
we assess whether they have done enough to win the peace or will the conflict
over cheese rumble on?
Every Cypriot home is
stocked with hellim – also known as halloumi. Traditionally made of either
sheep or goat’s milk – or, more recently, a mixture of the two plus cheaper-to-produce
cow’s milk – this centuries-old cheese gets its unique flavour and aroma from
the native plants in Cyprus
that the animals graze on.
Semi-hard with a salty taste
and distinctive layered texture, hellim forms an intrinsic part of a Cypriot’s
daily diet. It is eaten for breakfast with bread, olives, sliced cucumbers and
tomatoes, or sprinkled on pasta. It can be used as a savoury filling in börek and sandwiches, grilled or barbequed
as a meze dish, served fresh with
chilled watermelon, or cooked as part of a big fry-up…the list is endless!
Some like this gourmet
cheese fresh and moist, others mature and dry. The variations have been
formulated by generations of women in villages across Cyprus who would meet to make their
home-made cheese from fresh milk, salt, and yeast using traditional recipes.
Hellim is set with rennet
and, unlike other cheeses, uses no acid or acid-producing bacteria in its
preparation. Once made, the cheese is stored in urns, its natural juices mixing
with salt-water to give it a long shelf-life way before the advent of
refrigerators.
Hellim:
the backbone of the TRNC economy
Today, most people prefer to
buy it from their local supermarket. It’s estimated that every Cypriot consumes
8 kilos of hellim each year.
There are over 50 producers
in North Cyprus alone catering to local demand,
with Koop, Özlem and Akgöl being among the top brands.
While the domestic market is
large, demand abroad is also growing: from the Middle East to Europe and Australia,
more people are feasting on traditional Cypriot cheese. Reports show UK imports of hellim/halloumi rose by 132% to 3,030
tonnes in 2012. Other big European consumers are Sweden
(1,280 tonnes), Germany
(870) and Austria
(510).
Halloumi is South Cyprus’ second biggest export, worth over
$102million annually to their economy. Due to the embargoes, the Turkish Republic
of North Cyprus (TRNC) is shut out of the European market, (hence why Turkish
Cypriots living in Europe often smuggle personal amounts of the cheese in their
luggage after a trip to North Cyprus). However,
TRNC producers sell in huge volumes to Turkey,
the Middle East, and central Asia.
As the statistics demonstrate,
hellim is the backbone of the TRNC
economy: it is the country’s biggest export, accounting for 25% of all exports,
generating $30 million each year. It is the largest private sector, employing 17%
of the entire workforce. The bulk – some 11,000 people – work on dairy farms or
growing animal feed, which produce over 100,000 tonnes of milk, more than half
of which is used for hellim.
For the past few years, this
vital part of Cypriot culture and the economy has come under threat for Turkish
Cypriots.
What should have been an
important opportunity to bring the two Cypriot sides together has instead
become a major new political battle ground.
Greek
Cypriots deliberately excluded TRNC hellim producers
PDOs (Protected Designation
of Origin) are used to protect distinctive regional products such as Scotch
Whisky, Italian Parmesan or French Champagne. They stop producers elsewhere from
making same-name copies, which fool shoppers into paying lower prices for
inferior goods while damaging sales of the genuine product.
On 17 July 2014, the Greek
Cypriot government applied unilaterally to the EU Commission for a PDO to
control the trade in both hellim and halloumi.
While producers on both sides of the divide broadly welcomed the move to
protect Cypriot cheese, those in the North were more fearful.
The application, like their earlier
one in 2007, deliberately excluded TRNC producers from helping to determine the
cheese’s technical properties. Nor were they named as its co-sponsors.
If the PDO progressed as the
Greek Cypriots planned, it could be used to prevent producers in the North from
exporting this centuries-old cheese altogether, costing the Turkish Cypriot
economy millions, while generating huge unemployment.
Issue threatens to curdle relations in Cyprus
The EU Commission is in a
pivotal position to determine the outcome of the PDO. Intensive lobbying by the
Turkish Cypriot side made it clear that by upholding a one-sided application,
the EU would not only severely damage the TRNC economy, but also curdle
relations between the Turkish and Greek Cypriot communities.
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| Goods able to use this logo are worth more |
Such a decision would also
mean the EU fell foul of its own laws, particularly Protocol 10
of the 2004 Act of Accession of Cyprus
into the EU, which states that the EU is obliged to promote “the economic development” of North Cyprus.
Aware of the high stakes at
play, the EU sought to reassure Ali Çıralı, President of CTCI, the TRNC's
Chamber of Industry who has been leading the charge to defend his members’
interests since the issue emerged in 2007.
On 4 April 2013, Michaela di
Bucci, then Head of the EU's Turkish Cypriot Task Force, told President Çıralı
that "the Commission has clarified
that Turkish Cypriot stakeholders should be involved in the framework of the
prior consultation process that has to take place at national level".
In October 2014, the EU Commission
again assured President Çıralı that it was "fully
aware of the great economic importance" of hellim to the TRNC and
encouraged them to work with their Greek Cypriot counterparts. Yet each time CTCI has tried to have a say in the PDO, they were blocked by the internationally-recognised,
but solely Greek Cypriot administered Republic of Cyprus (RoC) government.
Around the same time, there
were efforts to get hellim supervised by the bi-communal UN Technical
Committees, which manage joint action over Missing Persons and Heritage Sites.
However, this too was blocked.
Legal flaws in the Greek Cypriot PDO application
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| CTCI President Ali Çıralı heads campaign to protect TRNC hellim producers |
With no alternative, in September 2014 CTCI decided
to take legal action to protect Turkish Cypriot rights. Five cases were lodged
at the High Court in South Cyprus challenging
the RoC’s unilateral application.
The PDO’s legal flaws were communicated to the
Director General of Agriculture at the EU Commission by CTCI’s Brussels lawyers NTCM
O’Connor. They argued that the Hellim/Halloumi PDO could not continue in its
current state as it failed to comply with both general and specific EU laws.
For example, none of the PDO’s details were made available in Turkish to the
producers in North Cyprus, even though this is
an official language of the RoC; nor did the national procedure give TRNC
producers the opportunity to make their views known or exercise their rights.
These points were also highlighted by human rights
group Embargoed!. In December, their supporters bombarded Commissioner Cretu
with letters urging the “European
Commission [to] intervene in this matter” to ensure the application is “genuinely for the whole island”. This
message was echoed by other international actors, including the British
government, urged on by Westminster’s All-Party
Parliamentary Group for the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
Instead of waiting for the
outcome of the court cases or enabling Turkish Cypriots to take part in the
process, the Greek Cypriot authorities decided to press ahead with their unilateral
plans.
Earlier this year, the
temperature shot up when the South announced it was “only a matter of weeks” before the EU Commission approved the Hellim/Halloumi
PDO and it was published in the EU’s Official Journal. It brought about a
furious level of activity from Turkish Cypriots desperate to protect their
rights.
Who
will inspect hellim in the TRNC?
One of the key battlegrounds
is over who will regulate the production of cheese in the North. PDOs require
an internationally accredited inspection body to check the products and report
into the competent authority, which ordinarily would be the Ministry of
Agriculture of a Member
State. However, having
admitted a divided island into its midst in 2004 and only recognising the
southern part, the EU openly states this authority has no effective control in
the TRNC.
In January 2015, the TRNC's then
Chief UN Negotiator, Ergün Olgun, told officials in Brussels
that hellim inspection should be
carried out by an agency in North Cyprus. He
suggested that either the TRNC's internationally-recognised Chamber of Commerce
(KTTO), which oversees the inspection of goods crossing the Green Line, or CTCI would be perfectly competent to carry out this function.
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| Lib Dem MEP Catherine Bearder active on Hellim PDO issue |
The issue was also taken up
by British MEP Catherine Bearder, who wrote to EU Commissioners stressing the "significant negative impact"
a Greek Cypriot-only PDO would have. In the light of this, and "the continued political position in Cyprus", she asked the Commission to
ensure that "any PDO status will be fully
available to Hellim producers in both the Greek and the Turkish areas of Cyprus."
In a written response in
March, the Commission told Bearder they were happy “the application defines the geographical area as encompassing the
entire island of Cyprus, and allows for the alternative or cumulative use of
the terms "Halloumi"/"Hellim" by any eligible producer that
fully meets the related specification.”
The Commission also stated
that, “Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012
requires the establishment of an appropriate control mechanism encompassing all
eligible producers throughout the island. In the case of Cyprus, this will need to take into
account the circumstances prevailing on the island. An effective control
mechanism has to allow all eligible producers to fully benefit from
registration of "Halloumi"/"Hellim" in order to help
maximising all possible benefits.”
In March, the PDO application was hanging by a thread
as agreement could not be reached on the technicalities. Even if all Cypriot
producers agree on the ingredients – and many Greek Cypriot producers are deeply
unhappy with their own government’s specifications, which limits the amount of
cow’s milk in halloumi – the Commission was seemingly unable to proceed until
it clarified who would inspect production in the TRNC.
EU forced to suspend Hellim/Halloumi PDO application
As CTCI lawyers pointed out, it is not unusual for
there to be multiple competent authorities and control bodies supervising
Geographic Indication registrations in EU Member States. So the Hellim Issue
could be solved by appointing independent inspectors in the north, answerable
to the EU without coming under the direct control of the authorities in South Cyprus – a red line for Turkish Cypriots who have
been battling for decades to safeguard their political equality.
However, the Greek Cypriot authorities, unwilling to
share power with their peers in the North, strenuously resist any efforts to
undermine their long-held policy that they – and they alone – are responsible
for governing the whole island.
With both sides digging in, the PDO had reached an impasse,
with all eyes on Brussels
on what would happen next.
Sensing trouble, in February 2015, the Commission had
already asked its Legal Department to provide an opinion on how they should
manage this issue. One idea was to publish the PDO, but to clarify that there
will be an exemption for North Cyprus, which required
an alternative inspection mechanism.
This news infuriated the Greek Cypriots and their
Foreign Minister Kasoulides threatened to take the Commission to the European
Court of Justice. Given the RoC’s clear failings on the handling of the PDO
national consultation, it is unlikely the ECJ would deliver them a positive
legal ruling.
“Hellim is a joint produce of the island. Its owner is
not Greek Cypriot”
However their unwillingness to accommodate Turkish
Cypriots in the process on an equal basis generated an equally strong response
from the North, uniting political parties and producers.
Akgöl’s owner Sadık Gürün said, “Hellim is a joint produce of the island. Its owner is not Greek
Cypriot. If the PDO went ahead [as it stands] our business would come to a
standstill. The TRNC has many hellim producers. For that reason we are all working
hard to avoid this becoming a one-sided PDO…We believe the EU will not allow
hellim to come under the sole control of Greek Cypriots.”
KTTO President Fikri Toros agrees and told T-VINE: “Mindful of the prevailing political reality
on the island, the control mechanism in North Cyprus
must be set up in such a way that it does not become dependent on the effective
control of the Greek Cypriot authorities.”
In April, KTTO and CTCI were informed by the
Commission that the PDO was on hold until it can determine an effective control
mechanism for North Cyprus, which can verify compliance
by producers. It seemed the north’s immediate battle to preserve hellim rights
had been won.
EU President Juncker negotiates hellim deal
Knowing the suspension of the PDO was a temporary
measure, the newly elected TRNC President Mustafa Akıncı raised the Hellim Issue
during his visit to Brussels
at the end of June. Het met with the heads of three major EU institutions,
including European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and European Parliament
President Martin Schulz.
In a follow-up visit to Cyprus in mid-July, Junker
announced that he had agreed an acceptable formula with the two Cypriot
leaders. The administration of the PDO would be managed differently in North
Cyprus by an independent inspection body who would report into both the
Commission and South Cyprus.
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| L-R: Mustafa Akıncı, Jean-Claude Juncker & Nicos Anastasiades agree hellim deal, Nicosia, 16 July. Photo: Reuters |
For the first time since 1994, EU markets would also
be open to Turkish Cypriot producers who would be able to sell hellim via the Green
Line following an amendment to the relevant Regulation.
Several concerns remain for those in North
Cyprus. There was no express reference in the EU’s subsequent
press statement on 28 July or the draft PDO published on the same day about the equal rights of Turkish Cypriots over hellim – a core demand of the TRNC
business groups that had previously lobbied the Commission.
Will Turkish Cypriot producers meet EU hellim criteria?
The newly appointed inspection body Bureau Veritas also
has a conflict of interest, as it holds major contracts to inspect shipping in South Cyprus, giving it a natural bias towards Greek
Cypriots. Embargoed! has already made strong representations to EU Commissioner
Cretu on the issue, extracting a response that “the Commission will ensure that an effective and objective control
mechanism for Halloumi/Hellim” is established.
Another question mark hangs over whether Turkish
Cypriot producers will be ready to meet the PDO requirements when it kicks in?
Unlike their peers in South Cyprus, they have
not received any funding and support needed to bring them up to EU standards.
Currently hellim
is mostly made of cow’s milk, which is the cheapest to produce. Yet the PDO
requires at least 20% of the cheese to be of sheep or goat’s milk – rising to
51% in ten years’ time.
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| North Cyprus needs to produce far more goat's milk if it is to meet the hellim PDO requirements |
Historically, hellim
used to be made entirely from goat or sheep’s milk. Today, it only contains
about 3%. North Cyprus has the potential to
reach 20%, but it will take time.
Then there are the multiple EU health and safety rules
governing food production that need to be complied with.
If Juncker’s deal does
not allow an exception for TRNC producers, they may well find that for a period
of time they will not be able to call their produce ‘hellim’.
Weeks after signing deal, Greek Cypriots try
to backtrack
There are more worrying developments too. President Anastasiades
is demanding changes to the Hellim trade deal he made with the TRNC, just weeks
after signing.
The agreement, brokered by the President of the EU
Commission, and hastily announced on 16th July after a successful
lunch with the two Cypriot Presidents, was taken as further proof of the new
atmosphere of optimism surrounding the perennial Cyprus Peace Talks.
But according to news reports in South Cyprus’ leading
daily Phileleftheros, the RoC's
office of permanent representation in Brussels
has submitted a request for “substantial amendments” to the agreement, after
receiving instructions from President Anastasiades.
Responding to widespread criticism of the deal, the
Greek Cypriot leader now wants four key amendments. It includes dispensing with
the separate quality-inspection arrangements for North
Cyprus as the South claims this would "infringe the RoC's sovereignty".
They also want all hellim
from the TRNC – including products destined for Turkey and other non-EU markets – to
come through the Green Line instead of being sold direct.
The demands have been met with dismay in many
quarters, including Turkish Cypriot industry body CTCI. Its Secretary General Doğa
Dönmezer said “the situation is of grave
concern”, which they are “monitoring
closely.”
One political commentator in the Greek Cypriot Cyprus Mail cheekily observed, "You have to wonder whose
advice Nik [sic] follows before making these decisions. What credibility would
Anastasiades have when he is seeking changes to an agreement he reached two
months ago in the presence of the EU chief? Will he do the same when he signs,
God forbid, a settlement?"
Hellim Wars, like the Cyprus Conflict, is set to
continue for some time yet…
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The battle rages on over hellim - an integral part of the Cypriot diet. Here, sprinkled on Pirohu. Photo: KibrisTransfer.net
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