Turkish gendarmes on Thursday detained two pop singers and a television producer in the latest operation targeting 25 prominent figures over alleged drug use, the DHA news agency reported.
The Bakırköy Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office in İstanbul issued detention warrants for the 25 people, among them performers, models, businesspeople and entertainment venue operators.
The detainees included singers Sıla Gençoğlu and İlyas Yalçıntaş and Fatih Aksoy, owner of the MED Yapım television production company, according to DHA.
Prosecutors said evidence had raised reasonable suspicion that the suspects used illegal drugs, facilitated their use or provided premises where drugs were consumed.
The İstanbul Provincial Gendarmerie Command was instructed to detain and search the suspects, obtain blood and hair samples and take their statements before bringing them to the prosecutor’s office.
Model İrem Haznedar was also reportedly detained. It was not immediately clear how many of the 25 suspects had been taken into custody.
The operation is the latest in a series of celebrity-focused narcotics investigations launched in İstanbul in October 2025. They have since expanded to include singers, actors, television presenters, journalists, social media personalities, nightclub operators and businesspeople.
Most suspects detained in previous operations were released after giving statements and providing blood and hair samples for toxicology tests. Prosecutors dropped investigations into several public figures after their samples tested negative, while cases involving others continued.
İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor Fatih Dönmez said in April that operations targeting celebrities and businesspeople would continue as investigators obtained new evidence. He also said Turkish law enforcement was cooperating with INTERPOL and European agencies in investigations into drug trafficking and organized crime.
Critics of the operations say they have put a disproportionate focus on prominent people suspected of drug use while failing to adequately target large trafficking networks.
According to a 2025 report by the Turkish police, Turkey has moved beyond its traditional role as a transit route for illegal drugs and has increasingly become both a destination market and a production hub, particularly for synthetic substances. The report documented a sharp increase in drug-related operations, with dozens of facilities uncovered in İstanbul alone.