"We have learned with great disappointment that Dimitris Kufodinas, the second-in-command of the 17 November terrorist organization, who was sentenced for life in prison for the assassination of Mr. Cetin Gorgu, the Press Attache of the Turkish Embassy in Athens in 1991, for attempting to assassinate Mr. Deniz Bolukbasi, Counsellor at the Turkish Embassy in Athens in 1991 and for taking part in the assassination of Mr. Haluk Sipahioglu, Counsellor at the Turkish Embassy in Athens in 1994, was released from prison today (9 November) for a period of two days.

It is not possible to understand how a terrorist who has repeatedly claimed the lives of our diplomats is given the opportunity to enjoy such an arrangement. Displaying tolerance to a bloodthirsty terrorist in this manner is a sheer disrespect to the memory of our martyred diplomats."

[09] CHP leader welcomes possible lowering of Turkey's election threshold

"We do not have any terms for the threshold. It doesn't matter whether they make it one or five [%]. But the threshold should be lowered for a healthy reflection of the national will in Parliament," Kilicdaroglu told reporters late on Nov. 8 during a visit to Strasbourg.

His comments came after Bahceli said the MHP was "expecting a proposal" for lowering the 10 % general election threshold. The ruling Justice and Development Party's (AKP) current majority at Parliament is enough to amend the Election Law and therefore lower the election threshold.

Turkey's 10 % election threshold has long been criticized and is the highest such threshold in Europe.

The existing Election Law is a product of the Sept. 12, 1980 military coup and needs to be fully overhauled through consensus between political parties, CHP head Kilicdaroglu said.

Although there is still around two years to go until the 2019 parliamentary and presidential elections, there has been speculation that the CHP and the Good Party will form an alliance ahead of the vote. However, Kilicdaroglu denied claims that Good Party Chair Meral Aksener had proposed such an alliance to him.

"We have not received anything from them directly or indirectly. Political parties run independently in elections," he said, recalling that current laws do not allow political parties to form such formal alliances.

"[The government] will make a legal arrangement [on the Election Law]. We first have to see this. What do they mean by alliance? It's not right to make a comment before seeing the drafted law," Kilicdaroglu added.

The presidential elections in 2019 will take place on two axes, the CHP leader stated.

On the presidential election currently scheduled for November 2019, the CHP head stressed that each party will "make its own nomination," while suggesting that the most attention should be paid to the second round, when the two candidates with the most votes will run off if no single candidate can secure over 50 % in the first round.

Meanwhile, Kilicdaroglu also touched on his meeting with Council of Europe Secretary-General Thorbjorn Jagland in Strasbourg. "We told him that we will defend democracy to the end and that democracy will prevail in 2019, so everyone needs to be optimistic," he said.

"Asked whether he has more trips abroad scheduled, Kilicdaroglu said he will hold talks in the United Kingdom between Dec. 5 and 8, meeting main opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn and EU Minister Alan Duncan, as well as think tanks, journalists and business circles.

[10] AKP: New law could lower electoral threshold:

"We will present our work to the party leader [Recep Tayyip Erdogan]. Our views will also be shared with the public. Political parties will discuss the proposed measures before a final decision is reached," he said.

Unal also said that the AKP has discussed this possibility before.

"This is nothing new. We made the call to negotiate [the election laws] in 2012. There was no response to the call we made that day. We will share our thoughts with the public when the consultation process within the AKP is complete," he added.

The debate heated up on Nov. 7 when Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahceli made a statement about the current electoral threshold.

He said the 10% threshold was too high for Turkey and needed to be lowered, stressing that political parties should reach a consensus in order to decide on the new quota.

"The MHP is not worried about the 10 % threshold. But the possibility of staying below the threshold puts pressure on society," Bahceli told a group of reporters.

Meanwhile, MHP Deputy Chair Semih Yalcin said that Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim had correctly understood Bahceli's statement regarding a lower electoral threshold.

Yalcin also said that MHP was a political party that could feel the pain of a 10% threshold.

"We had to make an alliance to counter it [the 10% threshold]. You should remember the alliance in 1991, and in 2002 we fell short of the threshold. We feel that pain," he added.

Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) Group Deputy Chair Ozgur Ozel has said that the electoral threshold in Turkey should be abolished entirely in response to Bahceli.

"How long has the 10-% threshold weighed on Turkey? Does it weigh on the MHP now that the MHP has dropped below the threshold, according to the latest election surveys? The threshold should be zero. Any party that passes one % should have representation in parliament," he said.

On June 7, 2015, Turkey held parliamentary elections to elect 550 members to Parliament.

The MHP increased its 2011 share by 3.2 %, gaining 28 seats and winning a total of 16.3 % of the votes. Meanwhile, the Kurdish issue-focused Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) received a total of 13.1 % of the national vote, pushing it well above the minimum 10 % threshold to achieve representation in Parliament.

This resulted in 80 seats each for the MHP and the HDP and marked the first time a Kurdish issue-focused party gained formal representation in Turkey's Parliament. Candidates of the HDP's predecessors had run as independents in previous elections in order to avoid the 10% election threshold.

In the snap elections on Nov. 1, 2015, called after a coalition government was unable to be formed, both the MHP and HDP lost a significant amount of votes, receiving 11.9 % and 10.8 % of the vote respectively.

[11] SpaceX to launch Turkish satellites as Turkey, Airbus ink deal

The Turksat 5A and 5B satellites will be launched by Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), Transport Minister Ahmet Arslan said.

"Our friends decided to launch our satellites with the Falcon 9 rockets of Airbus' subcontractor, SpaceX," Arslan said at the 3rd Global SatShow, during which top representatives from Turksat and Airbus clinched the deal.

The agreement to build and launch satellites will be worth around $500 million, Turksat Chair Vecdi Gonul said during his speech at the same event.

In October, Airbus submitted the best bid to build the satellites. The 5A satellite will be launched in 2020 and the 5B in 2021.

A significant part of production will be undertaken by Turksat engineers "through local means" in cooperation with Airbus, according to Turkish officials.

The production of satellites is planned to start immediately after the agreement is signed.

Elon Musk, the chief executive of electric car maker Tesla Inc. and aerospace company SpaceX, met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara on Nov. 8 and discussed cooperation between Tesla, SpaceX and Turkish firms.

Musk's SpaceX plans a manned mission to Mars by 2024 and also aims to produce a rocket capable of carrying passengers from one continent to another in less than an hour.

[12] Turkey, France and Italy to strengthen cooperation on missile defense: Sources

As a first step, the Franco-Italian EUROSAM consortium and Turkish companies will look into a system based on the SAMP-T missile system produced by EUROSAM and determine the common needs of the three countries, the sources said.

NATO member Turkey has said it plans to buy Russian S-400 surface-to-air missiles, a decision which has been seen in some Western capitals as a snub to the alliance given tensions with Moscow over Ukraine and Syria.

The Russian deal also raises concerns because the weapons cannot be integrated into NATO defence.

"That deal has not been consummated. There are no S-400s in Turkey as we speak," U.S. Air Force General Tod Walters, head of NATO Allied Air Command, told Reuters in Berlin.

Walters said he would continue to press Turkish air force officials to buy weapons that could work together with NATO systems, which the S-400 could not.

"We obviously have systems in the region now that possess that capability and demonstrate a high, high degree of interoperability," he added.

Raytheon, which builds the Patriot missile defense system, had also put in offer before Turkey chose the S-400.

Turkey has continued talks with the EUROSAM consortium, which came in second in the tender.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg last month said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had told him that Ankara was discussing buying air defense systems from France and Italy in addition to the S-400s.

The Defense Ministry sources said Turkey, France and Italy would strengthen cooperation on joint production of military electronic systems, software and simulation systems and warfare equipment, as well as air and missile defense systems.

The letter of intent was signed in Brussels, where Turkey's Defense Minister Nurettin Canikli was attending a meeting of NATO defense ministers.

[13] Turkey no longer major Council of Europe donor

Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Nov. 2 had expressed to Council of Europe Secretary-General Thorbjorn Jagland by phone Turkey's unease over an award given to a Fetullahist Terrorist Organization (FETO) suspect.

Turkey's reaction comes after the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) awarded the Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize 2017 to Murat Arslan, the former chair of the Judges and Prosecutors Union (YARSAV) who has been arrested since 2016 over links to FETO, which is believed to have orchestrated last year's failed coup.

Jagland, after meeting with main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) on Nov. 8, told reporters that Turkey decided to end being one of the major contributors to the Council of Europe, while stressing that both the Council and the European Court of Justice needed all sorts of support.

Kilicdaroglu, meanwhile, criticized Turkey's decision, urging that the country should not lose the platform because of an award.

"I want common sense to prevail. It is very important for us that Turkey remains as one of the major contributors," he said and called on the government to review its decision.

"It's suggested that the decision was made due to the award given to the former YARSAV chair. It's like cutting off the nose to spite the face. One has to keep the interests of Turkey above everything. Turkey should take the leading role in an institution to which Turkey is a predecessor. One should tell their mistakes to their faces," he said.

Asked about the Council's reports on its criticisms of the Turkish government's practices, Kilicdaroglu urged Europe should continue its relations with Turkey despite problems."Turkey should be in the future of Europe," he said.

Cavusoglu made Turkey a major donor. Turkey has been among the major donors, along with France, Germany, Italy, Russia and the United Kingdom, contributing to nearly 65 % of the total budget of the Council.

Turkey became one of the major contributors in 2016 with the meticulous efforts by Cavusoglu, who once served for the Council of Europe. Cavusoglu was elected as the Oresident of PACE for the 2010-2012 term, becoming the first Turkish parliamentarian to hold this office. He was granted the title of Honorary President of PACE in 2014.

Turkey's contribution increased from 14 million euros in 2015 to 34 million euros on Jan. 1, 2016, the same year Turkey's seats in the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities and PACE increased from 12 to 18, along with the introduction of the Turkish language to both bodies.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry on Oct. 9 lashed out at the award given to Arslan.

"It is wrong and unacceptable to award the Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize to a person who is a member of FETO, the perpetrators of the July 15, 2016, coup attempt. Making such a mistake under the roof of an organization that defends the principles of democracy, human rights and the rule of law has seriously damaged the credibility of PACE," the Ministry said in a statement.

"While the judicial process is still ongoing, presenting a terror suspect as a human rights defender is a betrayal to the ideals of democracy and human rights. Such an approach serves no purpose other than aiding the circles that support terrorism. We deeply regret PACE has become a tool to these political moves," it added.

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