Turkish police have raided the Istanbul headquarters of Halk TV early on October 14, halting its live broadcasts and placing the pro-opposition news channel under the control of a government-appointed trustee.
Financial crimes police entered the building in Zeytinburnu before 6.30am, barring staff from entry as they conducted searches.
Live news output and YouTube streams were cut and replaced with pre-recorded material, including old films.
The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office said the operation formed part of an investigation into Halk TV chairman Cafer Mahiroğlu over allegations of bribery, tender-rigging and money laundering.
A criminal judgeship of peace ordered the seizure of the channel and of other companies linked to Mahiroğlu, with the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF) appointed as trustee. İbrahim Paşalı, who has held comparable roles at other broadcasters, was named as its representative.
Detention warrants were issued for 17 people, 11 of whom were taken into custody.
Mahiroğlu, who is abroad (reportedly in the United Kingdom), was not among those detained. Prosecutors said he left Turkey on March 10, 2025.
Investigators allege he used contacts at İzmir Metropolitan Municipality to set up a firm, BUSTECH, which went on to win municipal contracts, and that unrecorded bribes of some 14.46 million lira (€262,000) were paid.
Citing the financial crimes board MASAK, they put the combined transaction volume of associated companies at about 30.35 billion lira (€549 million).
Halk TV is one of Turkey’s most-watched news channels and is widely viewed as close to the opposition.
Key figures include editor-in-chief Suat Toktaş, programme coordinator and responsible manager Serhan Asker, and morning host Deniz Bayramoğlu. Other regular presenters have included Ece Üner and Sinem Fıstıkoğlu.
The channel has faced repeated regulatory and legal scrutiny.
On June 26, 2025, the broadcasting regulator RTÜK imposed a 10-day broadcast suspension over comments by a guest (nuclear engineer Tolga Yarman) on the programme Sansürsüz, which the regulator judged as inciting hatred or enmity on sectarian grounds. A court later stayed the suspension.
Separately, in early 2025, Toktaş and four colleagues (Asker, Kürşad Oğuz, Barış Pehlivan and Seda Selek) faced criminal charges over the broadcast of a recorded telephone conversation with a court-appointed expert witness.
They were charged with violating the privacy of communication through the press and influencing those performing judicial duties. Prosecutors sought up to nine years, while Pehlivan and Oğuz faced an additional charge of recording non-public conversations, carrying a possible 14-year sentence. All five were acquitted in March 2025.
In a video message, Mahiroğlu called the raid “a dark day for Turkey” and said “the public’s right to information is being seized for political reasons”.
He denied the allegations against him as baseless, stated that seven members of his family had been detained, including a 70-year-old brother, and urged the government to reverse the move.
Editor-in-chief Suat Toktaş was filmed telling the trustee that what was happening was unlawful and refusing to cooperate on continuing broadcasts.
Opposition figures condemned the action. New Party leader Özgür Özel described a dawn raid and trustee appointment as “something only dictators would do”.
Özel set up the New Party in July 2026, after a court voided the 2023 congress of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) and stripped him of its leadership, taking 91 MPs with him.
The Journalists’ Union of Turkey labelled the move arbitrary. The DİSK Basın-İş union, the Istanbul Bar Association and DEVA leader Ali Babacan also criticised it.
The government has not issued a specific public comment on the Halk TV operation. In general, it maintains that Turkey’s judiciary is independent and that such measures follow ordinary legal procedures.
The raid occurred hours before defence arguments were due to begin in the corruption trial of jailed Istanbul mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, on whom Halk TV has reported extensively.
It follows similar trustee takeovers of other critical outlets and the recent blocking of the T24 news website. The TMSF took over the broadcaster TELE1 in October 2025 after the arrest of its founder, Merdan Yanardağ, on espionage charges, and put the channel up for sale in April 2026.
Turkish stand-up comedian Deniz Göktaş was detained at Istanbul Airport on Thursday upon his return from abroad, following a widely viewed performance that included satirical jokes about President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and religious themes. https://t.co/DB2wBGhuuo
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) July 3, 2026
