Turkey’s Geological Values in Geographical Indications

Geographical indication application which is one of the most ultimate issues of recent years covers many product groups from craft products to food, from agricultural products to geological values. In fact, the application in question is a French application, developed to ensure that the products which have a certain and basic nature from a limited geographical area are maintained in the same quality for years to come. With this application, a sustainable production policy is adopted for products that are a hallmark of the countries and it is aimed to prevent degeneration that may occur over time in the products. Some geological values are protected in this context, and in the following process, counterfeit products are tried to be prevented from unfair competition in national and international markets. The point that draws attention with geological values here is that it is the only product group that cannot be sustained in the medium and long term under the geographical sign. As a matter of fact, these natural resources are also consumable sources. Together with an indication of intensive tendency to geographical indication issues in Turkey, geological values have also started to be taken under protection. As from 2019, Turkey's total 9 geological values were included in the geographical indication. On the other hand, it should also be mentioned that Turkey is a country that has a very high potential in this sense. In this study, 23 values in total from natural stones that can be taken to indicate geographical coverage in Turkey, minerals and stone processing products are dealt with