The BBC reports that the opening last September of an Ikea store in Nicosia, Cyprus, has posed significant problems for some shoppers. The Turkish-controlled northern Cypriot state is not part of the European Union and is recognised by no country other than Turkey; accordingly it enjoys little in the way of international trade and most well-known foreign brands are not easily available there. However, Turkish shoppers had been crossing the UN-administered buffer zone in order to visit Ikea and make their purchases there. Now it appears that many of the goods bought by Turkish Cypriots are confiscated at the border on the basis that an import licence is needed for household furniture, however little its cash price. One theory is that the Northern Cyprus government has come under pressure to impose and enforce this regime following complaints by local businesses, which have not been accustomed to facing competition from leading foreign brands.