News Roundup

Development Boom to Legal Mess
The authorities in the occupied North are preparing to pour in large amounts of money into the development of parts of the Morphou region. Morphou (Guzelyurt in Turkish) is currently under Turkish Cypriot administration. It is believed that, under a future agreement, Morphou would return to the Greek Cypriots as part of an overall settlement to the Cyprus problem. The Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris today (21.02.06) quoted Mr. Talat as saying "Strengthening our economy is more important than the Cyprus problem." Mr. Talat's remark was made while addressing the "Association for the Development of the Area of Morphou." A small bit of info on Morphou: The town of Morphou fell to the advancing Turkish troops on August 16, 1974. An estimated 8,000 Greek Cypriots from Morphou were forced to abandon their properties.

EU Backs UN Sponsored Talks
The European Union on Tuesday said it supports UN backed talks between Turkey and Cyprus, but acknowledged that resolving the conflict between the two countries would not be easy. "The Austrian presidency is doing everything in its power to support the current UN sponsored process," Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel, whose country currently holds the bloc's rotating six month presidency, said in a statement. "We know the situation is very complex and difficult and that it will not be easy to solve the conflict." Schuessel's comments came after a meeting in Vienna with Cypriot president Tassos Papadopoulos.

International Film Festival
Cyprus will hold its first film festival in March. The festival is a three-day event being held on March 24-27, and will include the screening of 130 films from 40 countries competing in feature film, short film and animation categories. "We have a VIP jury for the entries, it will be a very glamorous event," said organiser Petra Terzi. "Cyprus offers several comparative advantages to filmmakers because of its landscape and climate," said Vakis Loizides of the Cyprus tourism board. Authorities were preparing a package of incentives to encourage studios to the island, he said.
Cyprus International Film Festival: http://www.ciff2006.com/