# Şahsiyet

Şahsiyet (transl. Persona) is a 2018 Turkish crime drama miniseries written by Hakan Günday and directed by Onur Saylak. The first season of the series premiered on 17 March 2018 and was broadcast by puhutv. The second season started on 13 November 2023 and was broadcast by Turkish digital video and TV network GAİN.

## Plot summary

Agâh Beyoğlu is a 65-year-old retired court clerk whose spouse died some time ago. Agâh lives alone in an old Ottoman building bearing the name of his deceased spouse, Mebrure, in Beyoğlu. One day, his beloved cat Münir Bey dies, since Agâh forgets to feed him. After the incident, he goes to a doctor to figure out the reasons of his memory impairment and there he is diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Agâh can't accept the fact that he has Alzheimer's disease and becomes depressed. One day, when Agâh meets his friends at an invitation, he discerns some advantages of his disease and makes a decision which is a turning point.
Nevra Elmas is a young and idealistic police-officer working in Istanbul Police Headquarters. She is the only female personnel in the Homicide Department but due to her gender, she experiences mobbing by her male co-workers, especially by misogynist Firuz. Her workmates believe that she does not deserve her position in the department and that her assignment is purely and simply due to benevolent sexism.
A serial-killer wearing a cat costume shows up in Istanbul. There is a common ground between the victims, Nevra Elmas, and Agâh Beyoğlu: Kambura, a small and conservative district near to Istanbul.

## Cast

| Actor name | Character's name |
| Haluk Bilginer | Agâh Beyoğlu |
| Cansu Dere | Nevra Elmas |
| Metin Akdülger | Ateş Arbay |
| Şebnem Bozoklu | Zuhal Beyoğlu |
| Hüseyin Avni Danyal | Cemil Havran |
| Necip Memili | Tolga |
| Şenay Gürler | Nükhet |
| Ayhan Kavas | Gürkan |
| Önder Selen | Mümtaz |
| Ibrahim Selim | Sefa |
| Fırat Topkorur | Firuz |
| Recep Usta | Deva |
| Rabia Soytürk | Süveyda |
| Alptekin Ertürk | Selim |
| Müjde Ar | Nesrin |
| Yusufcan Sancaklı | Polis |
| Hümeyra | Feza Yurtgil |
| Volkan Uygun | Vural |
| Avni Yalçın | Mehmet Yurtgil |
| Okan Avcı | Tufan |
| Cengiz Samsun | Rüstem |
| Ömer Çobanoğlu | Bedir |
| Can İlhan | Afşin |
| Bekir Hakan Uyanık | Başkomiser |
| Ali Seçkiner Alıcı | Naim Türedi |
| Erkan Ayan | Sadi |
| Turhan Kaya | Yüksel |
| Naz Karaca | Reyhan |

## Reception

Writing for Vatan, Oya Doğan criticized the length of the first episode, adding that it "was too long [...] 85 percent of the first episode was telling who Agah Beyoğlu was". In her article, she mentions that the series initially followed the typical rules set out for web series but later became more like a television series. Sabah writer Ayşe Özyılmazel praised the production quality of the series and described it as "perhaps the best series in the history of Turkish series". In November 2018, Şahsiyet entered the top 40 of the IMDb's list of the top 250 TV shows of all time, and as of 2025 is on position 47 with an average rating of 9.0.

## Awards and nominations

| Year | Award | Category | Recipients and nominees | Result |
| 2018 | EN Awards | Best Internet TV series of 2018 | Şahsiyet | Won |
| 2019 | SXSW Film Design Awards | Excellence in Title Design | Ethem Cem & Enes Özenbaş | Nominated |
| 2019 | International Emmy Awards | Best Performance by an Actor | Haluk Bilginer | Won |