Overview
- Halk TV’s Istanbul headquarters was surrounded by hundreds of police and put under forced administration, which on Wednesday, October 14, 2026 stopped its live broadcast and prevented staff from entering the building.
- The Istanbul public prosecutor issued arrest warrants for 17 people on suspicion of bribery, tender manipulation and money laundering, and 11 Halk TV employees were detained during the operation.
- Prosecutors say the action followed a criminal-court decision to seize companies linked to Halk TV board chairman Cafer Mahiroğlu, who lives abroad and has called the allegations baseless and the takeover political.
- Opposition leaders, the national journalists’ union and international rights groups condemned the raid as an attempt to silence dissent and documented the removal of editorial control when a state-appointed administrator takes over a broadcaster.
- The Halk TV takeover follows the recent blocking of the T24 website and last year’s seizure of Tele1, a pattern that further reduces independent news sources and could shrink the public’s access to diverse reporting ahead of future national votes.