18 CYPRUS v. TURKEY JUDGMENT it has been seised of the complaints invoked by the applicant Government in the context of an inter-State application, it being observed that, as regards the previous applications, it was not open to the parties or to the Commission to refer them to the Court under former Article 45 of the Convention read in conjunction with former Article 48. It notes in this connection that Turkey only accepted the compulsory jurisdiction of the Court by its declaration of 22 January 1990 (see the Mitap and Müftüoğlu v. Turkey judgment of 25 March 1996, Reports 1996-II, p. 408, § 17). 67. Without prejudice to the question of whether and in what circumstances the Court has jurisdiction to examine a case which was the subject of a decision taken by the Committee of Ministers pursuant to former Article 32 of the Convention, it must be noted that, in respect of the previous inter-State applications, neither Resolution DH (79) 1 nor Resolution DH (92) 12 resulted in a “decision” within the meaning of Article 32 § 1. This is clear from the terms of these texts. Indeed, it is to be further observed that the respondent Government accepted in their pleadings on their preliminary objections in the Loizidou case that the Committee of Ministers did not endorse the Commission's findings in the previous inter-State cases (see the Loizidou judgment (preliminary objections) cited above, pp. 21-22, § 56). 68. The Court accordingly concludes that the applicant Government have a legitimate legal interest in having the merits of the instant application examined by the Court. 3. As to the respondent State's responsibility under the Convention in respect of the alleged violations 69. The respondent Government disputed Turkey's liability under the Convention for the allegations set out in the application. In their submissions to the Commission, the respondent Government claimed that the acts and omissions complained of were imputable exclusively to the “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus” (the “TRNC”), an independent State established by the Turkish-Cypriot community in the exercise of its right to self-determination and possessing exclusive control and authority over the territory north of the United Nations buffer-zone. The respondent Government averred in this connection that the Court, in its Loizidou judgments (preliminary objections and merits), had erroneously concluded that the “TRNC” was a subordinate local administration whose acts and omissions engaged the responsibility of Turkey under Article 1 of the Convention. 70. As in the proceedings before the Commission, the applicant Government contended before the Court that the “TRNC” was an illegal entity under international law since it owed its existence to the respondent State's unlawful act of invasion of the northern part of Cyprus in 1974 and to its continuing unlawful occupation of that part of Cyprus ever since. The