Yücel Erten

Yücel Erten — Biography

Born on 19 October 1945 in Muş, Yücel Erten completed his early education in Antalya and Ankara before graduating from the Theatre Department of the Ankara State Conservatory in 1969 and joining the Ankara State Theatre as a trainee actor; he later studied directing at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen, Germany. Having staged more than 70 plays and collected nearly 40 awards, he is also known as a translator and writer.

On the administrative side, he served as General Manager and Chief Director of the State Theatres for 16 months starting in October 1992, and led the İzmit Municipality City Theatres as General Manager from 2002 to 2004. He became the founding General Artistic Director of the İzmir Metropolitan Municipality City Theatres (İzBBŞT) when it was established in 2021, but was removed from that post in June 2024 and was briefly detained in July 2025 as part of a corruption investigation into the municipality. Erten was released shortly afterward and stated in his defense that he had not taken any money from the City Theatres.

As a screen actor, his credits include the series Yorgun Savaşçı (1979) and the film Kurtlar Vadisi Vatan (2017); in July 2026 he appeared in a TRT series about the 15 July coup attempt, playing the role of Fethullah Gülen.