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Turkey: Opposition Mayor, Others Arrested Over Ties to Coup

Associated Press

   Turkish authorities have arrested a mayor from Turkey's main opposition
   party over his alleged links to a U.S.-based Muslim cleric, the
   state-run news agency reported Tuesday. Separately, c lose to 200
   people were detained in other police operations.

   Anadolu Agency said Burak Oguz, the mayor of the Aegean coastal town of
   Urla, was arrested late Monday for alleged ties to Fethullah Gulen's
   network. Gulen is blamed by Ankara for a failed coup attempt in 2016.

   Oguz, who was elected in local elections in March, is the first mayor
   from the main opposition Republican People's Party, or CHP, to be
   arrested on terror charges. At least 14 elected mayors belonging to
   Turkey's pro-Kurdish party have previously been detained for alleged
   ties to outlawed Kurdish rebels. The party denies terror charges and
   says the arrests are politically motivated aimed at weakening its hold
   in Turkey's southeast.

   The CHP condemned Oguz's arrest and denied the accusation of links to
   Gulen, saying the network had no "chance of serving within the CHP."

   "We condemn the use of the justice [system] to remove those who were
   elected," said CHP provincial head, Deniz Yucel.

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