Government takes control of Turkey’s most-watched news channel
Turkish police raided Halk TV's headquarters before dawn Wednesday, halting broadcasts and installing a government-appointed administrator while arresting 11 people, including a journalist and seven relatives of the channel's chairman. Prosecutors cited bribery, bid-rigging and money laundering allegations against chairman Cafer Mahiroglu, who lives abroad and called the charges baseless and politically motivated.
The raid came two weeks after authorities shut down digital outlet T24's accounts over alleged “LGBT propaganda,” and follows a similar 2025 takeover of channel Tele1, which survives but was stripped of hard news. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch both condemned the move, and opposition lawmakers staged a silent protest with black tape over their mouths.
Opposition leader Ozgur Ozel noted the timing, just before the defense begins arguments in the corruption trial of jailed Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, a chief Erdoğan rival. Footage showed Halk TV's live coverage of an investment fund scandal cutting abruptly to a decades-old film as the raid unfolded.
The full dispatch is available from the source below.