İzmir district mayor arrested over suspected FETÖ links

İZMİR

A mayor from Turkey's main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) was arrested over his suspected links to the FETÖ, the group behind the 2016 defeated coup attempt, a prosecutor's office said on Dec. 17.

İbrahim Burak Oğuz, the mayor of Urla district in the Aegean province of İzmir, is the first head of a CHP-run municipality to be arrested since the March 31 local elections.

After giving testimony in İzmir chief public prosecutor's office, Oğuz was arrested by a criminal court of peace on the charges of membership to FETÖ terror group.

Deniz Yücel, head of the CHP's İzmir provincial group, rejected the accusation that the mayor belonged to any FETÖ network.

"There is no chance for FETÖ to survive within the CHP," he said on Twitter. The party condemns the judiciary removing from office those who were elected, he said.

The Urla municipality did not immediately comment.