Building bridges with cheese in divided Cyprus

Efforts to have the increasingly popular halloumi cheese granted a protected European Union status have raised fears that Turkish Cypriot producers will be excluded.

Employees working on the production line at the Pittas Dairy Industries halloumi factory in the Cypriot capital Nicosia. The cheese has been made in Cyprus for centuries by both its Greek and Turkish communities. Florian Choblet/AFP PhotoShow less

NICOSIA // Forty years after Cyprus was divided by a bloody conflict, the island’s Greek and Turkish communities are trying to overcome their differences and find an unusual common cause: halloumi cheese.

Efforts to have the increasingly popular “squeaky” cheese granted a protected European Union status have raised fears that Turkish Cypriot producers will be excluded.

But cheese-makers on both sides are facing increasing competition from outside producers and are looking to set aside their differences to protect their business.

“If we collaborate, if we can come together and find a solution for this problem it will help to find a solution for the Cyprus problem also,” said Ali Cirali, the head of the Turkish Cypriot Chamber of Industry.

“This will bring the producers together from both communities, because both sides will win.”

Once a niche food, the rubbery halloumi has now become a staple in many kitchens outside Cyprus, especially in Britain and the United States.

The cheese has been made in Cyprus for centuries by both its Greek and Turkish communities, who have been divided since 1974 when Turkish troops invaded and occupied the island’s northern third.

The country is split from west to east by a UN buffer zone known as the Green Line and peace talks have failed to bring both sides to a long-term settlement.

The internationally recognised government in the Greek-speaking southern half of Cyprus, which joined the European Union in 2004, last July asked the EU to grant halloumi its Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) status.

As with Italian mozzarella or Greek feta, this status means that only a product produced in a certain area and using certain methods can use the name.

“What we are expecting is more protection on the name so that other countries will not copy it – like in France they have Roquefort cheese, we will hopefully have halloumi,” said Yiannos Pittas, a Greek Cypriot whose family has produced the cheese since the 1930s.

Halloumi is already the second-largest export in Cyprus, bringing in 76 million euros (Dh315m) to its economy in 2013, and producers hope that registering the name will lead to a major boost to foreign sales.

The initial request for a PDO was controversial.

Greek Cypriots first made the application without consulting their counterparts in the north and only later asked for the cheese to be registered under both its Greek and Turkish name – hellim.

Turkish Cypriots were sceptical and filed a series of lawsuits against the request, pointing out that experts commissioned by the Greek Cypriots would not be able to operate in the north.

But Mr Cirali from the Turkish Cypriot Chamber of Industry said they would be willing to support a designation if a compromise can be reached.

With halloumi accounting for a quarter of exports in the north, the Turkish Cypriot economy is also feeling the crunch from increasing competition.

“We need as soon as possible to get this registration. It is for the benefit of the island, because ... every day new producers are coming up,” Mr Cirali said.

Government spokesman Nicos Christodoulides has called for the two sides to “build on the historic unifying nature of halloumi, which constitutes a common tradition and historic reality for Cyprus”.

* Agence France-Presse