ISTANBUL

The Ankara Bar Association has officially appealed the court ruling that bans media reports on the investigation into the deadly Oct. 10 suicide bombing. 

The appeal was submitted to the 7th Criminal Court of Peace on Oct. 15, Ankara Bar head Hakan Canduran told daily Hürriyet.

Pakistan and Turkey have commenced negotiations on a bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA,) as the inaugural session of the talks has been concluded in the Turkish capital of Ankara.

The sign of the Ottoman Bank's Nicosia branch, which was rescued from the garbage in 1974 and rediscovered 40 years later, is on view at SALT Galata.

Designers, design exhibitions and conferences on design have all come together under the same roof during Istanbul Design Week, which opened on Oct. 14 at the Old Hat Factory (Eski ?apka Fabrikas?).

Turkey's unemployment rate rose to 9.8 percent in July, increasing slightly from 9.6 percent a month earlier, the Turkish Statistics Institute (TÜ?K) reported on Oct. 13.

Unemployment remained unchanged at 9.8 percent from July 2014. 

There were 2.97 million people reported out of work, an increase of 90,000.

Turkey will launch its TURKSAT 4B communications satellite from the Baikonur Space Center in Kazakhstan on Oct. 16, according to a statement by the Transportation, Maritime Affairs and Communications Ministry.

The TURKSAT 4B Communication Satellite is Turkey's sixth to be put into orbit and will work in tandem with a similar one named Turksat 4A, which was launched on Feb. 25, 2015.

Turkey has launched its TURKSAT 4B communications satellite from the Baikonur Space Center in Kazakhstan, according to a statement released on Oct. 15 by the Transportation, Maritime Affairs and Communications Ministry.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg ruled on Oct. 15 that Switzerland violated Turkish politician Do?u Perinçek?s right to freedom of speech.

The case concerned a fine imposed on Perinçek for a speech he gave in the country in which he denied that the mass deportation of Armenians in Anatolia in 1915 amounted to genocide.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Oct. 14 Moscow was helping the fight against Islamist insurgents in Iraq with the consent of the Baghdad government. 

"It is necessary to support the cooperation between the Iraqi government and the Iraqi Kurdistan in the fight against terrorism, but we are doing it with the consent of the government," he said. 

A woman, a young girl and a baby have died after a boat carrying migrants and refugees to the Greek island of Lesbos sank, the ministry of shipping said on Oct. 14.

The three victims' bodies were found by divers under the capsized vessel, the ministry said.