Prime Minister Ünal Üstel on Wednesday visited the facilities of Gülgün Dairy Products and received information about the company’s production processes.

Just recently Gülgün Dairy became the first Turkish Cypriot company to receive PDO certification for the traditional Hellim cheese.

Speaking during the visit, Prime Minister Ünal Üstel said raising the production standards of all industrial establishments in the country as well as obtaining food safety certificates was extremely important not only for exports, but also domestically.

“We will continue to support our producers so that our people can purchase and consume quality as well as healthy products. Also so that products produced in the TRNC can find the value and place they deserve in international markets,” said Üstel.

Also voicing his views regarding Hellim production, Üstel said “As the Prime Ministry and the EU Coordination Centre that operates under it, we have been involved in this process since the very beginning. The process is still not exactly where we want it to be. But this is a first step. We will continue our work.”

“I believe that the Turkish Cypriot people, as an equally sovereign people living on these lands, will one day succeed in entering not only the European Union but other international markets,” said Üstel, adding that the embargoes imposed on the Turkish Cypriot people were unfair and inhumane.

He said that Turkish Cypriot producers have proven once again by producing high-quality goods that they do not deserve to be punished under international embargoes.