Turkish authorities raided the headquarters of Halk TV on Wednesday, one of the country's most popular television channels and among its last remaining independent media outlets. Citing an ongoing corruption investigation, authorities appointed a state trustee to take control of the channel. The dramatic raid interrupted its live broadcast and is seen as an escalation in President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's efforts to suppress criticism and silence Turkey's free press.
The raid on Halk TV's headquarters in Istanbul began early Wednesday morning, with large numbers of police officers seen surrounding the building. The channel reported on its website that "hundreds of police officers" entered its offices while its journalists were barred from entering. The live broadcast was cut off at 6:30 a.m., after which the channel began airing prerecorded programs.
Live broadcast of Turkish opposition channel Halk TV interrupted, replaced by prerecorded programming
The Istanbul prosecutor's office said the raid and takeover of the channel's management were part of an investigation into its owner, Cafer Mahiroğlu, on suspicion of "bribery, bid rigging and laundering assets derived from criminal activity." Arrest warrants were issued for 17 suspects as part of the investigation, 11 of whom were detained. Authorities also announced that several companies linked to Mahiroğlu had been seized and that the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF) had been appointed as trustee to manage them.
Mahiroğlu, who lives outside Turkey and was not in the country at the time of the raid, described it as "a dark day for Turkey." In a video he released, he accused authorities of "taking control of the public's access to information for political reasons." He dismissed the allegations against him as baseless and said seven members of his family had been arrested during the raid.
Özgür Özel, leader of the main opposition New Party (Yeni Parti, YEP), also strongly condemned the raid, calling it further evidence of Erdoğan's dictatorial rule.
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The moment Halk TV's live broadcast was cut off and Erdoğan
(Photo: Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
"A dawn raid on a television channel, the appointment of a trustee — only dictators do such things," he wrote in a post on X. "Those who appointed trustees to take over local governments and trampled on the will of the people are now appointing a trustee to take control of Halk TV, a channel watched by millions. Because they are I-N-C-O-M-P-E-T-E-N-T and C-O-W-A-R-D-S!"
During Erdoğan's more than two decades of increasingly tight control over Turkey, press freedom in the country has been severely undermined. This year, Turkey ranked 163rd out of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters Without Borders. The organization says 90% of the country's national media outlets are under government control.
Halk TV is the fifth major media outlet in recent years to be placed under the control of a state-appointed trustee by Turkish authorities, in a move aimed at controlling its broadcasts and reporting and preventing criticism of Erdoğan's government.
Police officers outside the channel's headquarters in Istanbul on Wednesday morning
(Photo: BERK OZKAN / AFP)
(Photo: BERK OZKAN / AFP)
(Photo: Adem ALTAN / AFP)
State-appointed trustees have similarly been installed to run numerous local authorities as part of what is widely seen as a broader crackdown on the opposition. That campaign included the arrest last year of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, who was charged with corruption. İmamoğlu is considered Erdoğan's most prominent rival and the opposition's candidate in the next presidential election.
Several other mayors were also arrested, while mounting pressure on the opposition has prompted some opposition mayors to defect to Erdoğan's ruling Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi, AKP).
Erdoğan's crackdown continued this year when the judiciary, which is under his control, annulled the results of the 2023 internal party leadership election of the Republican People's Party (Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi, CHP) in May. The secular party, founded by modern Turkey's founding father, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, had until then been the country's main opposition party.
The annulment led to Özel's removal as party leader and the reinstatement of former chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, who led the CHP to defeat against Erdoğan and his party in the 2023 elections but is now seen as an ally of the president.
The court ruling sparked unrest, and police even stormed the party's headquarters and forcibly removed Özel, around whom the opposition had rallied following Imamoglu's arrest.
Özel subsequently left the CHP and founded the New Party, which was joined by large numbers of lawmakers who defected alongside him. It is now the largest opposition faction in parliament.
Opposition leader Özgür Özel, with a photograph of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, who was arrested last year, behind him. 'Only cowards act this way!'
(Photo: Adem ALTAN / AFP)
Unrest outside CHP headquarters in May after a court removed Özel as party chairman
(Photo: REUTERS/Efekan Akyuz)
Since being reinstated as CHP chairman by court order, Kılıçdaroğlu has expressed positions more closely aligned with Erdoğan's government. The raid on Halk TV came just days after he, too, criticized the channel's coverage and announced that he had filed a complaint against it with the media regulator.
Nevertheless, following the raid, Kılıçdaroğlu also joined the chorus of criticism, describing the move as an example of "systematic pressure" on opposition-affiliated media.
European officials also criticized the raid, although Europe's growing dependence on security cooperation with Turkey, a NATO member, means that, as in previous cases, the criticism is unlikely to be accompanied by concrete action.
Nacho Sánchez Amor, the European Parliament's rapporteur on Turkey, said Turkish authorities were "not happy with controlling 90% of media" and were seeking to extend their control to 100%.
"Amidst detentions of journalists & broad online censorship, freedom of media & expression will soon be just a memory," he warned.