The proximity talks involving the Greek Cypriot leader, President Glafcos Clerides, and Turkish Cypriot leader, Rauf Denktash, follow four previous rounds that have produced little sign of progress.

"We should not expect major breakthroughs as we go along, let alone as a result of the next 10 days of talks," U.N. envoy Alvaro de Soto, who is conducting the talks, said at a news conference. Secretary-General Kofi Annan will stop in Geneva to attend the Cyprus talks on Tuesday, en route to the Middle East, U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard announced Wednesday at U.N. headquarters in New York.

One day earlier, Denktash reiterated his position that Greek Cypriots "must accept that we have our own state," referring to the breakaway entity his community has established in the north of the island with the help of Turkish troops and money.

Clerides said that "the talks have no common ground" because of the Turkish Cypriot demand for recognition of their state, long the main stumbling block. U.N. mediators will shuttle between the two delegations as Denktash refuses to meet Clerides face-to-face until his state is recognized.

Cyprus has been split into a Turkish-occupied north and a Greek Cypriot-controlled south since Turkey invaded in 1974 after an abortive coup by supporters of union with Greece. The breakaway state is recognized only by Turkey, which maintains 35,000 troops there.

The opening of the talks coincided with the release of a letter from Cypriot U.N. Ambassador Sotos Zackheos to Annan strongly protesting a dozen alleged violations of Cypriot airspace by Turkish Air Force planes from October 4-22. In the letter, dated October 25, the Cypriot envoy called for a halt of the alleged violations and asked Annan to remind Turkey of its obligations under the U.N. Charter "to respect the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of the Republic of Cyprus.""