Neither the farmers nor the government would back down on Tuesday evening during a meeting aimed at resolving a dispute over the latter’s decision to import meat from abroad, which sparked a week and a half of protests so far. Three ministers—agriculture minister Huseyin Cavus, economy minister Olgun Amcaoglu, and finance minister Ozdemir Berova—all attended the meeting alongside the north’s animal producers’ and breeders’ union chairman Mustafa Naimogullari and other trade union leaders at the agriculture ministry but left the meeting no closer to a consensus than they had started.
Government’s Decision to Import Meat
The three ministers held a press conference after the meeting, insisting they had “negotiated in good faith” and that their “doors are open” for further talks to take place down the line. However, Cavus insisted that the government is “determined” to import meat, and that the first batches will arrive this week.
“Three shipments will be made this week, and 20.9 tonnes of meat will arrive. Subsequent to that, the amount will be evaluated according to our needs,” he said. He added that the first batch will arrive from the Netherlands, and that the government has been “sensitive” to ensure that meat is imported from “disease-free countries.”
He said the imported meat will be on supermarket shelves as soon as next week, and that rules will be introduced stipulating that the meat be stored at -18 degrees Celsius and that generators be installed at the supermarkets where it is sold. He also said the government’s price controls on meat will continue until June 19.
Naimogullari also made brief remarks outside the ministry building, confirming that no agreement had been reached and that his union’s protests would thus continue. Earlier, he had announced that animal breeders would not sell any livestock at all for at least a month in protest.
Meanwhile, transport minister Erhan Arikli had said the north will also be looking to import meat from Spain and promised that retail prices of meat would decrease once the imported meat arrives.
The government’s stance was also questioned in parliament by opposition party CTP MP Teberruken Ulucay, who asked why meat could not have been imported from the Republic rather than from the other end of Europe. He pointed out that European Union standards on livestock and meat are enforced in the Republic.
At present, the Green Line regulation prohibits the movement of animals and animal products from one side of Cyprus to the other, as evidenced by the large number of arrests made and fines levied against Turkish Cypriots who attempted to do so with the aim of avoiding the high meat prices seen in the north.
