A Turkish actor and a prominent television producer have been removed from popular TV series after authorities said their drug tests were positive, the latest fallout from an expanding investigation that has pulled in well-known figures from Turkey’s entertainment industry.
Actor Doğukan Güngör said he was dropped from the Show TV drama “Kızılcık Şerbeti,” where he had a lead role, after prosecutors detained him in a narcotics investigation and drug tests later came back positive.
In a statement posted on social media, Güngör said the network decided to remove him from the cast and complained about what he called harsh decisions, while saying he regretted his actions and was trying to rebuild his life.
Around the same time producer Timur Savcı’s name and the name of his production company were removed from the opening credits of a long-running series airing on Turkey’s state broadcaster after a drug test linked to the same investigation was reported as positive.
The change was visible in recent episodes of “Teşkilat,” a spy thriller that has aired for six seasons on TRT. Reports also said billing related to the show would be routed through a new company rather than Savcı’s firm.
The investigation, led by the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, is beginning to affect decisions in Turkey’s television industry, where broadcasters and producers often react quickly to reputational risks.
A probe that has expanded since 2025
Authorities have detained or summoned multiple public figures since December 2025 as part of a narcotics investigation that Turkish media have described as targeting celebrities.
In one wave of detentions reported in December, singer Aleyna Tilki, actor İrem Sak and social media personality Danla Bilic were taken into custody and later released after providing hair and blood samples to the Council of Forensic Medicine.
Detention warrants were also issued for other entertainers who were not immediately located at their listed addresses.
In another high-profile development in January 2026, internationally acclaimed Turkish actor Can Yaman was briefly detained during raids that included searches of multiple nightclubs in İstanbul and a hotel on the Bosporus.
Turkey’s television business depends on long-running series with tight production schedules, meaning disruptions can force rapid rewrites, reshoots or cast replacements.
The celebrity-focused nature of the investigation has created a new kind of risk for networks and production companies that build shows around star actors and recognizable names.
Turkey’s television dramas are also a major export, airing across the Middle East, Latin America, Europe and parts of Asia and attracting audiences that follow actors’ private lives along with their on-screen roles. That global reach means celebrity detentions tied to the investigation, including cases involving internationally known names such as Yaman, are likely to attract attention beyond Turkey.
In Russia, where Turkish dramas like “Çukur” and “Kızılcık Şerbeti” enjoy a dedicated following, a primetime TV program even devoted a segment to the recent celebrity arrests. Rossiya-1’s “Malakhov” devoted its January 22 broadcast to the detentions of Turkish celebrities. The Russian host, Andrei Malakhov, noted that viewers had flooded the channel with messages, anxious about what would happen to their beloved Turkish series in the aftermath of these events.