Mayor from Turkey’s main opposition party is detained over alleged ties to Kurdish militants

ISTANBUL (AP) — State media say a mayor from Turkey’s main opposition party has been detained on suspicion of being a member of a banned Kurdish militant group. Ahmet Ozer, mayor of Istanbul’s Esenyurt district for the Republican People’s Party, or CHP, was arrested by anti-terrorist police on Wednesday over alleged connections to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK. The arrest comes as Turkey is debating a tentative peace process to end a 40-year conflict between the PKK and the Turkish state that has led to tens of thousands of deaths. Ozer is a former academic originally from Van in eastern Turkey. He was elected mayor of Esenyurt, a western suburb on Istanbul’s European side, in March.