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In a sweeping drug investigation that has sent shockwaves across Türkiye’s entertainment world, the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office has released the latest results from forensic analyses of blood and hair samples collected from 21 suspects, including several well-known figures such as Can Yaman, whose acting is highly popular in Spain, Italy and South American countries.
The probe has put the spotlight on celebrity culture and drug use in Istanbul’s social scene. In recent weeks, the editor-in-chief of Türkiye's mainstream TV station Haberturk Mehmet Akif Ersoy and several his friends were arrested due to drug use and sexual harrasment accusations.
According to the Council of Forensic Medicine’s report, 14 of the 21 individuals tested positive for banned substances, with results showing the presence of illegal drugs in their systems.
Among those with positive tests are social media personality Bilal Hanci, actress Melis Sabah, and Ibrahim Barut, the son of Abdi Ibrahim Group Chairman Nezih Barut.
Amid the broader fallout from the probe, actor Can Yaman, who was briefly detained during the early stages of the investigation and later released before returning to his base in Italy, received a negative result on his drug tests, the report said.
Prosecutors confirmed that his blood and hair samples showed no evidence of banned substances.
Yaman, one of Türkiye’s most internationally recognised performers especially in Spanish-speaking countries and Italy, took to social media after his release to dispute early reports linking him to drug use, emphasising that his swift release and ability to travel back to Italy reflected the lack of incriminating evidence.
Can Yaman posted a message in Italian on social media from Rome, where he addressed Italian journalists directly and criticized Turkish media coverage.
“Dear Italian press, it is well known that the Turkish press has always treated me badly. This is not new. But you are not like that. Please do not fall into the mistake of copy-pasting news. At a time when police detain many celebrities and run large-scale investigations, do you really believe I walk around nightclubs with banned substances? If this were even slightly true, I would not have been released so quickly and been able to return to Italy the next day. I love you all,” he wrote.
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