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Nikolas Neophytou, a 23-year-old philosophy student, is at a bustling café flanked on one side by sandbags, rusting oil barrels and barbed wire which mark the edge of what Cypriots call the "dead zone" in the heart of Nicosia, Europe's last divided capital.
Curious tourists eagerly take photos of these symbols of the island's frozen conflict. But for Nikolas they are like part of the furniture: he has become oblivious to them.
The most intensive drive to reunite Cyprus after 43 years of division entered the final stretch in January, with the UN confident of a "historic opportunity" to stitch the former British colony back together. But Nikolas is hardly following developments at the negotiating table.
Picturing a reunited island is as difficult for young Cypriots as imagining a world before the internet. Many have become jaded by decades of failed peace initiatives and, fearing disappointment once more, are keeping their hopes for reunification in check.
"Me and my friends have pushed the Cyprus problem to the back of their minds" Nikolas, a Greek Cypriot, says. "We were born into it and rarely discuss it or post abou...
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