Christofias heads the island's internationally recognised government of Cyprus [EPA]

Dimitris Christofias, Cyprus' president, and Mehmet Ali Talat, the Turkish Cypriot leader, met on Thursday in a new round of negotiations aimed at reunification.

The two met at an abandoned airport inside the UN-controlled buffer zone that splits the island.

Top of the list for discussion is the structure of a reunited Cyprus and how the Greek Cypriot majority would share power with the minority Turkish Cypriots.

Christofias, who heads the internationally recognised government of Cyprus, and Talat are expected to meet at least once a week in a bid to find a settlement.

The island, which has been divided since Turkish forces invaded the north in 1974.

The European Union have made reunification essential to Turkey's bid to join the bloc.

'Greater good'

"The complex and challenging process of finding a negotiated settlement of the Cyprus problem has started in earnest," Taye-Brook Zerihoun, the UN chief of mission in Cyprus, said on Wednesday.

"Pursuit of the greater good of the people of Cyprus is key to overcoming past rancour and division, and in ushering in a new era of co-operation, prosperity and peace based on respect for diversity and shared principles."

But the issues of security, territory and Turkish settlers have held up talks.

Turkey has always insisted on retaining the right to intervene under the treaties signed with Britain and Greece that gave the island independence in 1960, and it retains at least 30,000 troops on the island.

Greek Cypriots want to drop the intervention rights, saying Cyprus should be free of all foreign troops, although Christofias has said he is willing to compromise on the issue of Turkish settlers on Cyprus by allowing 50,000 Turks to remain.

The negotiations, which began on September 3, mark the first major push for peace since the failure of a UN plan in 2004.

Talat has expressed hope for a solution as soon as possible.

"My vision was to finish the negotiations by the end of this year and I believe it is possible," he said in Brussels on Wednesday.

But a poll of 600 people in the Greek Cypriot newspaper Simerini on Sunday found that 60 per cent believed the leaders would not reach an agreement, and 41 per cent thought the conflict would never be resolved.

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