Two beekeepers on the island of Cyprus are bridging an ethnic divide. Soteris Antoniou—a Greek Cypriot—and Kudret Balci—a Turkish Cypriot—are peacefully sharing their expertise.
Their communities have strong disagreements. But the two men agree on one thing for sure: The Caucasian bee that’s imported to Cyprus just can’t take the island’s heat. Cyprus needs a Cypriot queen for its hives.
The Mediterranean island divided along Greek and Turkish ethnic lines in 1974. Representatives of both populations will discuss reconciliation next week in Switzerland. But Antoniou and Balci aren’t waiting for an official word. They're moving ahead together to find a homegrown solution to a shared problem.
So far, the two men say their bee-breeding work has encouraging results. They have successfully transplanted bee larvae from the diminishing population of Cypriot queen bees into a custom-built hive.
The men became friends in 2003. Prior to that, there had been almost 30 years of no-contact between Greeks and Turks on Cyprus. But their connection really goes back much farther. In 1961, Antoniou was right out of high school. He learned beekeeping from a Turkish beekeeper named Mustaka. And guess who Mustaka is? Balci’s grandfather.
Though the men agree on the bee project, they disagree about the likely outcome of the peace talks. Balci is hopeful the leaders will set boundaries to satisfy everyone. Antoniou doubts that more talk will resolve decades of deadlock. But they aren’t going to let that divide them any longer.
