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Turkish film director Ezel Akay and his musician brother were detained in western Bursa province’s İnegöl district after gendarmes found 1.13 kilograms of marijuana, 21 cannabis plants and cultivation equipment at Akay’s home, the İhlas News Agency (İHA) reported on Thursday.
The narcotics unit of the Bursa Provincial Gendarmerie Command began investigating after receiving information that cannabis was being grown at the residence. A search conducted under the supervision of prosecutors also found an active climate control system and materials used for cultivation.
Akay and his brother, Eren Kazım Akay, were taken to a gendarmerie station for questioning and then to İnegöl State Hospital, where blood and hair samples were collected to determine whether they had used drugs.
The brothers were taken to a courthouse after questioning, the Demirören News Agency (DHA) reported. No court decision had been announced as of Thursday afternoon.
Akay, 65, directed films including “Where’s Firuze?”, “Killing the Shadows,” “7 Husbands for Hurmuz” and “Leyla Everlasting.” He also produced Derviş Zaim’s “Somersault in a Coffin” and served as executive producer of Yeşim Ustaoğlu’s “Journey to the Sun.”
Akay has at times used social media to criticize the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and support people imprisoned in cases condemned by rights groups. Three days before his detention Akay wrote on X that film producer Çiğdem Mater and filmmaker Mine Özerden were “completely innocent” and called for their release. The two women are serving 18-year sentences for allegedly aiding an attempt to overthrow the government through the 2013 Gezi Park protests.
Akay also criticized state corruption and restrictions on intellectual life in an interview with Medyascope in January. He argued that people who use humor to criticize those in power face pressure.
The Bursa case appears to be separate from an İstanbul investigation involving celebrities and business figures that has continued since October.