Döner strikes again!

Inevitably, last week, the agenda, especially for Turkish people in Berlin was completely occupied by football and döner kebab. Those two topics are strangely intertwined. While the excitement of the European Football Championship is at its peak, the döner closely follows football in Germany. Not a day goes by without a news item about döner appearing in German newspapers. Now that we did not make it to the semi-finals, the agenda is totally left to the ever-returning topic of the revolving kebab.

Why is this happening? Why can't we refrain from revisiting the döner issue? Well, both the football fans and players obviously want a taste of it.

Former Galatasaray player Lukas Podolski is on the agenda with the döner chain he opened with his Turkish partner, and it is said that döner earns even more than football. Bild newspaper was shaken up by the order of 300 portions of döner placed in the hotel where the football players were staying.

But the real reason why döner is constantly on the agenda is that it is weeks away from being registered by the EU. The objection period to the pending registration is coming to an end. So far, no party has officially objected to the registration, but it is clear that the debate will continue. Obviously, the EU registration concerns Germany where döner is widely popular; because it will be the authorities in Germany who will oversee and deal with the consequences of the product specification of döner in line with the EU regulations. There are lots of misleading false information going around, so let's see the forthcoming EU recipe for döner.

How does the application process work?

The registration of döner as a traditional product in Türkiye was made in 2021 with the...