ANKARA — The European Union on Tuesday granted protection status to Turkey’s Caglayancerit walnut, which is produced in the country’s quake-hit southeast, in a move that may bring an economic boost to the region.
The EU granted the Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) status to the famous walnut, which is named after the region in which it’s produced, by including it in the bloc’s list of more than 1,600 protected products from across the world. The status is based on an EU policy to protect “unique characteristics” of selected products and help their producers to market the products better.
In its announcement on Tuesday, the bloc cited various factors for the designation, including half-century-old walnut trees, beekeeping activities in the area that help pollinate the walnut during the flowering period, and ancestral methods used in production.
Caglayancerit is located in Turkey’s southeastern province of Kahramanmaras, the epicenter of the Feb. 6 twin earthquakes that killed more than 50,500 people and directly impacted more than 15 million people across more than 10 provinces. The region and its economy are still reeling from the country’s deadliest and worst disaster.
