Legal questions

On 10 August 1976 Greece submitted to the International Court of Justice an Application instituting proceedings against Turkey in connexion with a dispute concerning the continental shelf in the Aegean Sea and the rights of those two States to explore and exploit the shelf. Greece requested the Court to adjudge and declare: that certain specified Greek islands, as part of the territory of Greece, were entitled to the portion of the continental shelf which appertained to them according to the applicable principles and rules of international law; what was the course of the boundary (or boundaries) between the respective portions of the continental shelf appertaining to either State; that Greece was entitled to exercise over its continental shelf sovereign and exclusive rights for the purpose of researching and exploring it and exploiting its natural resources; that Turkey was not entitled nor should it continue to undertake any activities on the Greek continental shelf, whether by exploration, exploitation, research or otherwise, without the consent of Greece; and that certain specified activities of Turkey constituted infringements of the sovereign and exclusive rights of Greece to explore and exploit its continental shelf or to authorize scientific research respecting the continental shelf.

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