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. 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. Ninety CHP legislators quit the CHP for the New Party, making it the largest opposition group in parliament.