The District Mayor of Nurdağı district in Türkiye's Gaziantep province was arrested as part of an earthquake-linked investigation on Saturday.

District Mayor Ökkeş Kavak was detained as part of a probe launched by the Islahiye Prosecutor's Office, Anadolu Agency (AA) reported.

He was the contractor of two buildings that were destroyed in the recent Kahramanmaraş-centered earthquakes, the report said. He was brought to the courthouse after completing routine procedures at the police headquarters, and was arrested by the court.

Shortly after the earthquakes, the Justice Ministry instructed the prosecutor's offices, in 10 provinces affected by two major earthquakes in Türkiye's southeast, to establish "Earthquake Crimes Investigation Departments."

At least 44,000 people were killed, tens of thousands of others were injured in the magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 earthquakes, which destroyed thousands of buildings in 10 provinces.

Türkiye is located in the world's most seismically active zones as it is situated on several active fault lines, with the most potentially devastating being the Northern Anatolia Fault (NAF), the meeting point of the Anatolian and Eurasian tectonic plates. It has suffered devastating earthquakes in the past, including the magnitude 7.4 magnitude earthquake in Gölcük in 1999 which killed more than 17,000 people in the greater region.