ISTANBUL (AP) — Police detained a former TV actor-turned-mayor on Thursday in the latest wave of arrests targeting the opposition.
Erdal Besikcioglu, the mayor of Etimesgut Municipality in western Ankara, is being investigated for allegations of irregularities and forgery in municipal tenders, the Justice Ministry said in a statement. Investigators are also examining parking lot leasing schemes and construction zoning permissions.
Besikcioglu played grizzled detective Behzat C in a popular police drama of the same name that ran from 2010 to 2019. He was elected mayor in 2024 with the opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP, in an election where the opposition strengthened its grip on major cities, including Ankara and Istanbul.
Hundreds of elected mayors and other officials have been arrested in the past two years as part of criminal investigations, mostly into alleged corruption, in operations targeting opposition-run municipalities.
Ekrem Imamoglu, the mayor of Istanbul widely considered the strongest potential challenger to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has also been arrested and imprisoned since March last year. He faces criminal cases that could result in decades-long sentences.
Erdogan's government insists that Turkey’s courts are impartial and act independently of political pressure.
Some 42 municipal officials and 13 company representatives were targeted in Thursday's dawn raids across nine provinces overseen by the Ankara West Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, the Justice Ministry said. Three deputy mayors were also arrested.
The suspects are being held on charges of establishing and running a criminal organization; membership in a criminal organization; embezzlement; bribery; extortion; and tender-rigging.
Police detained 52 suspects and conducted searches at 71 locations, including homes and offices. Documents and digital materials were seized during the raids, the ministry's statement added.
In May, the leadership of the CHP was removed by court order, prompting the formation of the New Party by deposed party head Ozgur Ozel last Friday. Ninety CHP legislators quit the CHP for the New Party, making it the largest opposition group in parliament.
FILE - Turkish actor Erdal Besikcioglu poses at a photo call for the film 'Honey' at the International Film Festival Berlinale inBerlin, Germany, Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2010. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)
LEGE-CAP FERRET, France (AP) — Higher humidity, cooler temperatures and a forecast for rain raised hopes of relief Thursday for a parched portion of southwestern France engulfed by wildfires that have charred an area four times the size of Paris in recent weeks.
With moisture moving in from the Atlantic coast, national weather service Meteo France forecast light rain in the town of Lege-Cap Ferret, on a peninsula that's been a leading edge of the devastated region.
Local officials reported a “rather calm" night, with a fire that has not grown beyond the 42,000 hectares (about 162 sq. miles) already affected. Fire crews remained at “total mobilization” with 2,200 firefighters and over 20 aircraft.
Rain fell early Thursday in the city of Bordeaux to the east. But there were no early signs of enough rainfall in the hardest-hit areas that could douse the flames or dampen the sandy ground and brushy undergrowth of pine forests that have fueled the inferno.
Sophie Brocas, the prefect for the Gironde region, expressed some optimism that lower temperatures could help.
“If that's confirmed, we could foresee a return to a more normal life for residents, but also for businesses that need to work,” she told reporters late Wednesday.
Humidity reached 80% overnight but was expected to drop by midday, authorities said. Some rainfall was expected along the coast that “could reach the fire zone,” Gironde officials said in a morning note.
Temperatures that peaked around 40 Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) a day earlier were set to drop Thursday, topping out at 27 C (80 F) along the coast. An “orange” heat wave alert — the second-highest level after “red” — was lifted shortly before dawn.
The fires in the Bordeaux wine-growing, forested and tourism-heavy region are among the blazes that have swept across pockets of southern Europe in recent weeks, including Spain and Greece.
On Wednesday, authorities said three firefighters had died on the Greek island on Crete, as the wildfire emergency stretched from the Atlantic coast to the eastern Mediterranean.
At the peak of the evacuations, a third of a million people were driven from homes and vacation sites in France and Spain.
Flames burn an olive tree during a wildfire in the Rethymno region on the southern Greek island of Crete, Wednesday, July 29, 2026, where two firefighters died while battling the blaze. (AP Photo/Giannis Angelakis)
Embers smolder inside an olive tree during a wildfire in the Rethymno region on the southern Greek island of Crete, Wednesday, July 29, 2026, where two firefighters died while battling the blaze. (AP Photo/Giannis Angelakis)
A fire burns in the forest near Blagon, during wildfires in southwestern France, Wednesday, July 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Emma Da Silva)
A firefighter lays on the ground after working to extinguish a fire in the forest near Blagon, during wildfires in southwestern France, Wednesday, July 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Emma Da Silva)
A smoke cloud rises as firefighters work to extinguish a fire in the forest near Blagon, during wildfires in southwestern France, Wednesday, July 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Emma Da Silva)
