Halk TV raided as Turkey appoints trustee

Police raided Halk TV's Istanbul headquarters early Wednesday, halting broadcasts and installing a government-appointed administrator at Turkey's most-watched news channel.

Halk TV said on X that a trustee had been appointed and that its live news channel and YouTube broadcasts had been cut. Footage posted online showed a live interview switching suddenly to a 1973 Turkish film.

Prosecutors said they had issued a warrant for 17 people and that 11 had been detained as part of an investigation into Halk TV chairman Cafer Mahiroglu on suspicion of bribery, rigging tenders and money laundering.

Mahiroglu, who lives abroad and is also named in the warrant, denied the allegations. He said seven members of his family had been detained, including his 70-year-old brother.

“The public's right to information is being seized for political reasons,” Mahiroglu wrote on X. He accused the government of using the judiciary as a weapon and said: “We will get our channel back.”

Prosecutors confirmed the seizure of companies co-owned or managed by Mahiroglu, with government-appointed trustees placed in charge.

Opposition figures, journalists' groups and rights advocates condemned the raid. Veysel Ok, co-director of media-rights watchdog MLSA, called the intervention one of the government's most significant steps toward monopolising the flow of information.

The move came two weeks after officials closed the website and social media accounts of digital news outlet T24, citing “LGBT propaganda”. In October 2025, authorities seized control of another pro-opposition channel, Tele1, and appointed a trustee to oversee broadcasts.