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Olive oil bridges borders in Cyprus - 21st February 2020

An olive oil business in Cyprus is helping to promote peace.

Cyprus has been split into a Turkish and a Greek zone since 1974. A Greek military coup which aimed to unite the island with mainland Greece led to a Turkish invasion.

There have been reunification talks since, but these were suspended in 2017.

In the same year two friends Hasan Siber, a Turkish Cypriot and Alexandros Philippides a Greek Cypriot decided to start a company selling olive oil produced from olives grown on both sides of the divided island.

Coliveoil is a rare example of the two communities working together.

Alexandros Philippides: "Coliveoil is trying to promote the peace process in Cyprus through a common goal that we have, a common staple that has been shared by the two communities, which is olive oil."

But Hasan and Alexandros face many obstacles. Olives harvested in the North can’t be registered as organic in the EU.

At the checkpoint dividing the island, Coliveoil has to produce passports and documentation for the olives from the North as this part of the island isn’t internationally recognised.

At the mill, the olives from North and South are mixed – it’s a symbol of reconciliation. But with no way to label this oil as organic the two friends are now thinking of marketing it in separate bottles.