Nicosia

Nicosia District contains the world's last divided capital—a city bisected by UN buffer zone since 1974, with the Republic of Cyprus governing the south and unrecognized Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus controlling the north. The district hosts 200,000 people in the Greek Cypriot zone, serving as seat of government despite losing its international airport and half its urban area to occupation.

The economic relationship across the divide is peculiar: the southern zone supplies electricity to the northern zone; the northern zone processes Greek Nicosia's sewage. This mutual dependence persists despite political deadlock. The capital concentrates government employment, financial services, and professional sectors, contributing to Cyprus's 4.6% unemployment rate—lowest in 15 years. Real estate in Nicosia contributes to the 16% GDP share, though Limassol leads that market.

Nicosia's partition created economic distortions that persist fifty years later. Government ministries operate from a city that cannot grow northward. Businesses face a dead-end where the buffer zone begins. The old city's commercial core was severed—some streets end at barbed wire. Yet the southern portion adapted: Strovolos and Lakatamia expanded to absorb growth that couldn't flow into occupied territory. The district demonstrates how capital cities can function despite catastrophic territorial loss—poorly, partially, but persistently.