Erdal Besikcioglu arrested in corruption case, prosecutors say

Turkish prosecutors said on July 30 that Erdal Besikcioglu, an award-winning television actor and opposition mayor of Etimesgut near Ankara, had been arrested in a corruption investigation.

Prosecutors said raids across nine provinces in the Ankara area targeted 55 suspects, including Besikcioglu, 42 municipal employees and 13 business executives. They said the suspects were accused of establishing and managing a criminal organisation, embezzlement and corruption, linked to alleged irregularities in tenders issued by Etimesgut city hall.

Besikcioglu, 56, became mayor of Etimesgut, a city of about 600,000 people near Turkey's capital, in 2024 for the Republican People's Party, or CHP. He is known for playing a homicide detective in the television series "Behzat C".

The CHP says criminal proceedings against its officials are part of a political campaign by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his party. Similar accusations have been made against Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, who was arrested in March 2025 and remains in detention.

Sinem Dedetas, the CHP mayor of Uskudar near Istanbul, was arrested on July 29 on suspicion of irregularities in building permits. At least 28 CHP mayors and hundreds of party officials are now in detention.

Ozgur Ozel, who was deposed as CHP leader by a court, left the party the previous week and said he would set up a new party with 91 lawmakers to challenge Erdogan's Justice and Development Party.