Not so sweet divides: Turkish delight and the Cyprus question

By Naomi Conrad 

My two flatmates gave me a strikingly blue scarf for Christmas, which I have since worn at work every day. Not because the Commission buildings are particularly cold, in fact they tend to be overheated: fonctionnaires nod off slowly during stiflingly warm meetings and creep out of reunions only to cluster in big groups around the hot beverages machines, which spit out coffee in plastic cups tasting of hot soup and tea with a distinct hot chocolate aftertaste. No, I wear my scarf, despite the heat, because I harbour the hope that someone will make a passing comment. At which point I can inform them that the scarf is, in fact, from the non-recognised Turkish entity of Cyprus, or, depending on your political views, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.

First a sound-byte of (over)simplified history: Cyprus was divided in 1974, which gave rise to two de-facto governments: the Turkish, self-declared republic in the north, where my scarf was purchased even though it was produced in Turkey, and the southern Republic of Cyprus. The two entities are separated by the Green Line, a United Nations-controlled buffer zone, partitioning republic from Republic. The Turkish entity has not been recognised by the European Union or any other country than Turkey, which is why a postcard purchased in the North had to be surreptitiously posted in the South.

Yet while thee island is divided, it nevertheless shares a sweet, even if they cannot agree on a name for it: Turkish, or if you prefer Cyprus, delight. Legend has it that the sticky soft sweets were invented in the 15th century for a Turkish sultan with a sweet tooth and a toothache. Whether the Sultan’s toothache improved is not known, but the sweets quickly spread in the Ottoman empire, and Turkish delight is today sold as ‘loukoumi’ in Cyprus, ’ratluk’ in Seriba and ‘lokum’ in Bulgaria.  Turkish delight was first brought to the West in the 19th century. A British traveller reportedly brought it back from his Middle Eastern journeys. The sticky soft sweets were first known as ‘lumps of delight’, later, as the threat of the Ottoman Empire had receded and its armies withdrew first from the gates of Vienna and subsequently the Balkans, Turkish delights.

Yet while the recipe is the same across the island, and indeed much of the Middle East -  starch and sugar or honey, flavoured with rosewater or lemon and nuts – relations between the two Cypriot entities, never rosy at best, have become even stickier over the traditional sweet: Southern Cyprus, the Republic that is, is a member of the European Union and put in a bid for and was granted European trademark protection of its confections. Henceforth, only sweets made in Southern Cyprus can be sold under the name of ‘Loukoumi Yeroskipou’ or Cyprus delights in the European Union.

A trademark protection, officially called a Protected Designation of Origin in typical EU speak, ensures that only products genuinely originating in a certain region are allowed to be traded as such: Parma ham has to have been produced in Parma and only Salmon raised in fish farms in Scottish lochs, rather than Norwegian fiords, can be sold as Scottish salmon. The idea is to protect the reputation of regional foods and their producers, be it a small Roquefort producer or large wine estate in France. The legislation came into force within the European Union in 1992 and is gradually being expanded internationally via bilateral agreements with third countries. 

What seems like an insignificant squabble over names runs deeper and the sweet wars are symptomatic of the soured relations of the two. Turkey could, after all, apply for its own official trademark and even without such a trademark can still export its gooey confection as ‘Turkish delights’. The key market being Britain a delight’s turkishness in fact constitutes a trade advantage: While many Brits, generally not very versed in foreign languages, would recognise a Turkish delight when they see it, a ‘Loukoumi Yeroskipou’ is a different matter. 

So rather than economic interest, national pride that is at stake - and deeper fears in Ankara that the European Union is turning its back on Turkey, with Accession Talks, which have been running, or rather stop-starting, for decades currently frozen as Brussels has become less than keen to admit the Muslim country.
Somewhere hidden on our living-room table laden with various sweets and biscuits brought back from different Christmas destinations and well-meaning visitors – Italian beer-flavoured panattone, crumbly German Christmas biscuits and  Madeira cake – is a colourful, empty but for one small piece left out of politeness’ sake, box of pink and yellow delights. Technically Turkish, not Cypriot, as it, like the scarf, was carried across the Green Line to European Union territory.