appertaining to Greece and Turkey in the Aegean Sea, and the rights of the parties thereover. In order to found thejurisdiction of the Court, the Application relied on, firstly, Article 17 of the General Act for the Pacific Settlernent of International Disputes of 1928, read together with Article 36, paragraph 1, and Article 37 of the Statute of the Court; and secondly, a joint communiqué issued at Brussels on 31 May 1975, following an exchange of views between the Prime Ministers of Greece and Turkey. 2. Pursuant to Article 40, paragraph 2, of the Statute, the Application was at once comrnunicated to the Government of Turkey. In accordance with paragraph 3 of that Article, al1 other States entitled to appear before the Court were notified of the Application. 3. Pursuant to Article 31, paragraph 3, of the Statute of the Court, the Government of Greece chose Mr. Michel Stassinopoulos, former President of the Hellenic Republic, former President of the Council of State, to sit asjudge ad hoc in the case. The Government of Turkey did not seek to exercise the right conferred on it by that Article to choose a judge ad hoc. 4. On 10 August 1976, the same day as the Application was filed, the Agent of Greece filed in the Registry of the Court a request for the indication of interim measures of protection under Article 33 of the General Act of 1928 for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes, Article 41 of the Statute, and Article 66 of the Rules of Court as adopted on 6 May 1946 and amended on 10 May 1972. 5. On 26 August 1976, a letter, dated 25 August 1976, was received in the Registry from the Secretary-General of the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, enclosing the "Observations of the Government of Turkey on the request by the Governrnent of Greece for provisional rneasures of protection dated The Hague, 10 August 1976". In these observations, the Turkish Governrnent, inter alia, contended that the Court had no jurisdiction to entertain the Application. 6. By an Order dated 11 September 1976, the Court, after finding that the circumstances were not then such as to require the exercise of its power under Article 41 of the Statute to indicate interim measures of protection, decided that the written proceedings should first be addressed to the question of the jurisdiction of the Court to entertain the dispute. 7. By an Order dated 14 October 1976 the President of the Court fixed time-limits for the written proceedings on the question of jurisdiction, namely, 18 April 1977 for the filing of a Mernorial by Greece, and 24 October 1977 for the filing of a Counter-Mernorial by Turkey. By a further Order dated 18 April 1977, at the request of Greece these tirne-limits were extended by the President to 18 July 1977 and 24 April 1978 respectively. The Mernorial of the Government of Greece was filed within the extended time-lirnit fixed therefor, and was cornmunicated to the Governrnent of Turkey. No Counter-Memorial was filed by the Governrnent of Turkey and, the written proceedings being thus closed, the case was ready for hearing on 25 April 1978, the day following the expiration of the time-limit fixed for the Counter-Memorial of Turkey. 8. On 24 April 1978, the date fixed for the filing of the Counter-Mernorial of Turkey, a letter dated the same day was received in the Registry frorn the Arnbassador of Turkey to the Netherlands, in which it was stated, inter alia, that it was evident that the Court had no jurisdiction to entertain the Greek Appli-