Turkish actor and opposition politician Erdal Beşikçioğlu has been remanded in custody pending trial as part of a wide-ranging corruption investigation into Etimesgut Municipality, the Ankara district he has governed since 2024.
Beşikçioğlu, a member of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), was among 40 suspects jailed by an Ankara court on Monday, 3 August. Fourteen others were released under judicial controls, while another suspect remained in hospital.
The operation, which began on 30 July, targeted 55 municipal officials and company representatives across nine provinces.
The Ankara West Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office said the investigation concerned alleged irregularities in municipal tenders, forged documents, parking-lot leases and payments connected to planning permission and construction licences.
Suspects are being investigated for offences including forming or belonging to a criminal organisation, embezzlement, bribery, extortion and manipulating tender processes. Prosecutors said they had extensive evidence including accounting reports, statements from complainants and cooperating suspects, audio and video recordings, and financial and telephone analyses. No one involved in the case has yet been convicted.
Beşikçioğlu has denied the corruption allegations. During questioning, which reportedly lasted around four hours, he said he had no direct responsibility or authority over municipal tenders and that his role was limited to general oversight. He also reportedly said his income came from his mayoral salary, acting royalties and ticket revenue from his theatre.
“The mentality trying to change through the judiciary what it could not win at the ballot box has now targeted Erdal Beşikçioğlu”
Investigators, however, claim that financial records contained unexplained transactions and that some municipal goods were purchased at greatly inflated prices or paid for despite never being delivered. The case also includes allegations that bribes were demanded from developers seeking building permits.
Opposition claims arrests are politically motivated
The government and officials close to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) have consistently rejected accusations that such investigations are politically directed. They argue that prosecutors are pursuing evidence of genuine corruption and insist that Turkey’s courts operate independently of the government.
Opposition politicians have presented Beşikçioğlu’s detention very differently, describing it as the latest attempt to remove elected mayors through the courts after the AKP failed to defeat them at the ballot box.
Imprisoned Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu said the successive operations were targeting “the ballot box, democracy and the will of the people”, adding: “The mentality trying to change through the judiciary what it could not win at the ballot box has now targeted Erdal Beşikçioğlu. The will of the people cannot be taken hostage through judicial operations.”
Beşikçioğlu’s daughter Derin also criticised the decision, writing: “We are at the point where words fail.” She said she was proud of her father’s honesty and principles and thanked him for teaching her not to remain silent in the face of injustice.
Award-winning actor best known for role as detective Behzat Ç
Before entering politics, the 56-year-old Beşikçioğlu enjoyed a career spanning more than three decades as an actor, theatre director and producer. A graduate of Hacettepe University State Conservatory, he joined Turkey’s State Theatres in 1993 and later co-founded Ankara’s Tatbikat Sahnesi theatre.
He became nationally famous playing the unconventional and often abrasive homicide detective Behzat Ç. in the Ankara-based television crime drama of the same name. His other prominent screen appearances include Vali, Köprü and the award-winning film Bal.
Beşikçioğlu made the transition into politics ahead of Turkey’s March 2024 local elections. Standing for the CHP in Etimesgut, he won 56.58% of the vote and took office the following month, ending the AKP-led alliance’s control of the district.
Hundreds of opposition politicians arrested since AKP lost 2024 Local Elections
His imprisonment comes amid an increasingly intense series of investigations, arrests and prosecutions involving opposition-run municipalities. Hundreds of CHP members, mayors and municipal officials have been detained or investigated since the party defeated the AKP nationally in the 2024 local elections.
The pressure has broadened further during 2026. İmamoğlu and hundreds of co-defendants went on trial in March, other CHP district mayors have been arrested on corruption or planning-related allegations, and a May court decision removed Özgür Özel from the CHP leadership.
Opposition parties, human-rights organisations and European officials have raised concerns about political interference and judicial independence, while Erdoğan’s government continues to maintain that the investigations are legitimate criminal proceedings rather than an organised campaign against its opponents.
