on 22 August 1974; Turkey refused to accept it on 16 September 1974, and repeated the suggestion of negotiations. 18. On 27 January 1975 the Greek Government proposed to the Turkish Government that the differences over the applicable law as well as over the substance of the matter be referred to the International Court of Justice, and it stated that, without prejudice to its right to initiate Court proceedings unilaterally, it saw considerable advantages in reaching jointly with the Turkish Government a special agreement for reference to the Court. On 6 February 1975 the Turkish Government answered expressing the hope that the Government of Greece would "agree, with priority, to enter into negotiations . . . on the question of the Aegean Sea continental shelf", adding that in pnnciple it considered favourably the proposa1 to refer the dispute jointly to the Court. To this effect it proposed talks between the two Governments at ministerial level. On 10 February 1975 the Greek Government agreed that talks should be held in order to draft the terms of a special agreement. 19. On 17-19 May 1975 the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of Greece and Turkey met in Rome and gave initial consideration to the text of a special agreement concerning the submission of the matter to the International Court of Justice. On 3 1 May 1975 the Prime Ministers of the two countries met in Brussels and issued the joint communiqué relied on as conferring jurisdiction in this case, the terms of which will be examined in detail later in the present Judgment. They also defined the general lines on the basis of which the subsequent meetings of the representatives of the two Governments would take place and decided to bnng fonvard the date of a meeting of experts concerning the question of the continental shelf of the Aegean Sea. 20. In a Note of 30 September 1975 the Turkish Government reiterated the view it had advanced at the meeting in Rome, that it would not be in the interest of the two countries to submit the dispute to the Court without first attempting meaningful negotiations. It recalled that in Rome it had also expressed the view that delimitation negotiations should take place paralle1 with the preparation of a special agreement, and that it had been agreed that those issues which could not be resolved by negotiations would be jointly subrnitted to the Court. In a Note of 2 October 1975 the Greek Government contended that it had been agreed in Brussels on 3 1 May 1975 that the issue would first be formally submitted to the Court and that talks with a view to an eventual agreed solution were not excluded to follow. 21. In a Note of 18 November 1975 the Turkish Government disputed this interpretation and invited the Greek Government to conduct meaningful negotiations for an agreed equitable settlement, as well as for considering joint submission of unresolved but well-defined legal issues, if necessary, to the Court. In a Note of 19 December 1975 the Greek