Here We Go Again: Ancient church turned into ceramics factory

From the Cyprus Weekly:

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ΝΤΡΟΠΗ

ΣΗΜΕΡΙΝΗ (27.11.07):
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Secretive visit inside the "forbidden city" of Varosha

UN Security Council Resolution 550

...Considers attempts to settle any part of Varosha by people other than its inhabitants as inadmissible and calls for the transfer of this area to the administration of the United Nations...

A Vlogger (video blogger), going by the name Dave Stuart, has posted new video footage of a visit to Varosha, a "ghost town" in Occupied Cyprus. The Turkish army took control of the city in 1974 and forced tens of thousands of Greek Cypriot inhabitants to flee their homes. Varosha is currently being used as a bargaining chip by Turkey and the Northern breakaway State as part of an overall settlement to the Cyprus problem.

The 15 minute film taken within the fenced off city is entitled "Return inside Varosha" and is divided in two parts. The videos have been placed on YouTube and can be viewed here and here.

Thank you Dave

Bellapais Monastery Turned into a Garbage Dump

A sad pilgrimage that at every stop adds to one’s outrage and disbelief:

The historic Bellapais Monastery was turned into a garbage dump after Asil Nadir sons wedding.

Turkish Cypriot daily Afrika newspaper (25.09.07) writes that last Wednesday the 800-years-old historic Bellapais Monastery was turned into a garbage dump after the wedding of the son of Asil Nadir and Aysegul Tesimer.

The paper writes that the tourists who visited the Monastery next day in the morning, despite buying a ticket for the historic monument, they could not have a complete tour, a fact that annoyed them. Moreover, the paper reports that the night of the wedding no one could approach the area and state police was guarding the entrance to the village creating problems to the villagers and their guests from passing.

The music at the wedding lasted until 2:00 am, but the most ridiculous thing was until next morning when tourists visited the Monastery and faced a wreck, a rubbish dump, the paper notes.