Following the death of Queen Elizabeth II on 8 September, carnation growers in the Antalya and Isparta regions saw their order books fill up, at the same time as strong demand for cut flowers arrived from the UK.

Although Antalya ranks first in Turkey for cut flower production (with more than 50% of the national production of carnations), the harvest of these flowers takes place there between November and June. However, production remains uninterrupted throughout the year, thanks to the Isparta harvests. Thus, the death of Queen Elizabeth II coincided with the last harvest period for the plateau in the Isparta region.

A race against time

Flower orders are typically shipped by truck, a route that takes seven to eight days. Due to the delays, cargo planes (with 500,000 flowers, for about 13 tons, on September 15) transported the carnations, to arrive on time at UK florists. Indeed, after 10 days of national mourning, the Queen’s funeral is scheduled for Monday, September 19.

In addition, with smaller crops at the end of the season and very short lead times, some of the production that was originally shipped to the Netherlands has been moved to the UK. In fact, Turkish producers have only been able to meet around 40% of the UK demand.

Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu present at the Queen’s funeral

The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, although invited to the queen’s funeral, desisted from attending it, citing protocol reasons. It is the Turkish Foreign Minister, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, who will represent him in London on Monday, September 19.