6 AEGEAN SEA (JUDGMENT) cation in the circumstances in which it was seised thereof, and that consequently the Government of Turkey did not intend to appoint an agent or file a CounterMemorial. 9. On 25 April 1978, the Court, taking account of a request by the Government of Greece, fixed 4 October 1978 as the date for the opening of the oral proceedings on the question of the jurisdiction of the Court. On 11 September 1978, a request was made by Greece that the opening of the oral proceedings be postponed for a substantial period. The Court, after taking into account the views of both interested States and the course of the proceedings since the Application was filed, considered that such a postponement was not justified and that the hearings, being limited to the question whether the Court had jurisdiction to entertain the dispute, did not affect the issues of substance dividing the parties, which were the subject of negotiations between them. Consequently, the Court decided to defer the opening of the oral proceedings only until9 October 1978. 10. On 9, 10, 1 1, 12, 13, 16 and 17 October 1978, public hearings were held, in the course of which the Court heard the oral argument, on the question of the Court's jurisdiction, advanced by Mr. Sotirios Konstantopoulos, Agent of Greece, Mr. Constantin Economides, Agent, advocate and counsel, and Mr. Daniel O'Connell, Q.C., Mr. Roger Pinto, Mr. Paul De Visscher, Mr. Prosper Weil and Mr. Dimitrios Evrigenis, counsel, on behalf of the Government of Greece. The Turkish Government was not represented at the hearings. 11. The Government of Burma requested that the pleadings and annexed documents in the case should be made available to it in accordance with Article 48, paragraph 2, of the Rules of Court. Greece and Turkey having been consulted, and no objection having been made to the Court, it was decided to accede to the request. 12. In the course of the written proceedings, the following submissions were presented on behalf of the Government of Greece: in the Application: "The Government of Greece requests the Court to adjudge and declare: (i) that the Greek islands referred to in paragraph 29 [of the Application], as part of the territory of Greece, are entitled to the portion of the continental shelf which appertains to them according to the applicable principles and rules of international law; (ii) what is the course of the boundary (or boundaries) between the portions of the continental shelf appertaining to Greece and Turkey in the Aegean Sea in accordance with the principles and rules of international law which the Court shall determine to be applicable to the delimitation of the continental shelf in the aforesaid areas of the Aegean Sea; (iii) that Greece is entitled to exercise over its continental shelf sovereign and exclusive rights for the purpose of researching and exploring it and exploiting its natural resources; (iv) that Turkey is not entitled to undertake any activities on the Greek continental shelf, whether by exploration, exploitation, research or othenvise, without the consent of Greece;