Istanbul court remands Twitter user in FETO probe

By Yunus Ege and Muhammed Enes Can

ISTANBUL

A popular Turkish Twitter user was remanded in custody by a court in Istanbul on Tuesday evening as part of a police probe into the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO).

Ahmet Kemal Aydogdu, who used the handle @JeansBiri, had been detained on Oct. 27 on charges of promoting the hashtag online "Aksilahlanma", which tried to create an impression that members of the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party were allegedly arming themselves following the July 15 defeated coup on the pretext of defending the country.

Aydogdu, who was said to be a teacher at a local school, was charged with "being a member of an armed terrorist group". Authorities also found a large sum of money at his home during the course of their investigation.

The Turkish man had over 1.6 million followers on Twitter.