Overview
- Police raided Halk TV’s Istanbul headquarters on Oct. 14, prevented staff entering, halted live broadcasts and installed a government‑appointed trustee to run the channel.
- The Istanbul Chief Prosecutor’s Office issued warrants for 17 people in a financial crimes probe into owner Cafer Mahiroğlu, citing allegations of bribery, bid‑rigging and money‑laundering, and 11 people were detained.
- Mahiroğlu, who lives abroad, denied the charges as baseless and said several relatives were detained during the raids while prosecutors seized companies linked to him.
- Domestic opposition parties and major press freedom groups condemned the takeover as an attack on freedom of expression and demanded the immediate return of independent operations.
- The takeover fits a pattern of recent state interventions in Turkish media that have used court orders and trustees to neutralize critical outlets and may further limit public access to dissenting reporting ahead of key political events.