Bogatepe, a village settlement in the province of Kars in the Eastern Anatolia Region, is defined as the place where gruyere cheese was produced for the first time in Turkey. This village was established for the settlement of the Malakans and Doukhobors, who were displaced from Russia, due to the capture of the Ardahan-Kars Province by the Russians during the Ottoman-Russian war of 1877-1878, and named “Büyük Zavot”. Since it was concluded that the ecology of the region was appropriate for husbandry and gruyere cheese production, the Scottish cheese producer, David Moser, founded the first gruyere cheese atelier in Bogatepe village at the request of Russians. In a short time, the number of the gruyere cheese ateliers spreading to other villages in the region increased to 50. Following the end of Russian invasion, colonists left Turkey and the number of active ateliers decreased continuously. Today, there are four active ateliers. After the creation of the USSR in 1917, some Turkic people such as Qarapapaqs, Kipchaks, Kumyks and Qaraqalpaqs, who did not want to live in that country and were familiar with gruyere cheese production, were settled in the Ardahan-Kars region in 1936, repopulated Bogatepe village and restarted the gruyere cheese production, using the equipment the colonists left behind. However, as the Bogatepe village began to emigrate after 1975, the gruyere cheese production stopped. Nevertheless, gruyere cheese production revived thanks to a gruyere master coming back to Bogatepe village in 2002. Nowadays, since the village people share tasks successfully, the number of dairy cattles rose to 4000. In that case, the gruyere cheese, which has high added-value and requires master ship, is essential in terms of development and sustainable advancement of the region. Gruyere cheese has a demanding production process exceeding 6 months. The most prominent rules of production are to install gruyere cheese facilities above 1800 m and to pasture animals in high zones, since the milk has to enter into the production in 1 hour. The ecology of many rural settlements in Ardahan-Kars region is suitable for this production. Thus, it is necessary for development to organize places with similar ecology for gruyere cheese production.
Birincil Dil | Türkçe |
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Bölüm | Araştırma Makalesi |
Yazarlar | |
Yayımlanma Tarihi | 15 Haziran 2018 |
Kabul Tarihi | 27 Ocak 2018 |
Yayımlandığı Sayı | Yıl 2018 Sayı: 70 |
Yayıncı: Türk Coğrafya Kurumu