Selman Reşitoğlu, known as the “Tender King,” arrested on prostitution charge after Mehmet Şimşek photo drew attention

Selman Reşitoğlu, a businessman known in the Turkish media as the “Tender King,” has been arrested after being detained on Sept. 5 in an investigation into drugs and prostitution conducted by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office. The chairman of Ekpet İnşaat was sent to court after police processing and remanded in custody.

Reşitoğlu had previously attracted attention through social-media posts showing private jets, yachts, luxury cars and trips abroad. After the images appeared in the media, he reportedly made his account private. The debate then expanded to public tenders received by companies linked to him and his family.

Ekpet İnşaat and Avos Grup İnşaat, in which Reşitoğlu’s brother Veysel holds a 49 percent stake, received road-building contracts from the General Directorate of Highways with a combined value of 10.9 billion lira, the article said. Earlier reports also said Avos Grup İnşaat had received a tender worth about 1.5 billion lira from the agency.

Another image that brought Reşitoğlu into the spotlight was taken in London and showed him at the same table as Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek. Reşitoğlu’s uncle Abdurrahman Reşitoğlu and businessman Gürkan Dölekli also appeared in the photograph. Şimşek said he had no commercial partnership with Selman Reşitoğlu and that the images had been taken in London and Batman between July 2018 and May 2023, when he was not serving as minister. He confirmed that he had established a company in Britain with Abdurrahman Reşitoğlu in August 2021 to buy a home, saying it had no other commercial activity.

Ekpet İnşaat was also mentioned in an earlier tender controversy involving Şehitkamil Municipality. Reports said the vehicle used by Mayor Umut Yılmaz, who moved from the Republican People’s Party to the Justice and Development Party, was registered to Ekpet İnşaat.