NICOSIA, Cyprus – The leaders of Cyprus' Greek and Turkish communities started new peace talks Wednesday and said they hoped to reach accord soon on reuniting this Mediterranean island partitioned by war 34 years ago.

Cyprus President Dimitris Christofias met for two hours with Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat inside the U.N.-patrolled buffer zone that separates the two communities.

The leaders emerged to express confidence that they can reach an agreement. They plan to meet again Sept. 11, U.N. officials said.

“We will try our utmost to achieve (a settlement) as soon as possible,” Christofias said. “This is a common will, a common desire, and we shall make common efforts.”

Talat said he hoped a deal could be reached by the end of the year. He denied that Turkey, a guarantor of the Cyprus' 1960 independence agreement, was poised to block any concessions by the island's ethnic Turks.

“We are in favor of a solution and Ankara is supporting us,” Talat said. “That's why after four years of stalemate ... we are confident that we will succeed in concluding (a) comprehensive agreement.”

Cyprus, which has fewer than 1 million inhabitants, has been divided since 1974, when Turkey's army invaded after a coup by Greek Cypriots who hoped to unite the island with Greece. Turkey set up a Turkish state in the northeast but it never won international recognition.

Associated Press Television producer Theodora Tongas contributed to this report