Turkish police raid pro-opposition Halk TV, take channel off air, detain 11
Police stormed the Istanbul headquarters of the government-critical broadcaster at dawn and a trustee took over. Opposition leader Ozel: "Something only dictators do."
Archive image · Photo: Bernd Schwabe in Hannover / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0 (cropped and resized)
Turkish police raided the Istanbul headquarters of pro-opposition broadcaster Halk TV early Wednesday. Shortly before 7 a.m. local time, the channel said on X that a trustee had been appointed and broadcasts halted. Its YouTube live stream also went offline.
Prosecutors issued warrants for 17 people, and 11 were detained. The investigation targets chairman Cafer Mahiroglu on suspicion of bribery, bid-rigging and money laundering; he lives abroad. Companies he co-owns or manages were placed under a government-appointed trustee.
Opposition leader Ozgur Ozel said storming a TV channel at dawn and appointing a trustee "is something only dictators do." The Turkish Journalists' Union, TGS, decried "tyranny." The raid came hours before the defense was due to begin its arguments in the corruption trial of jailed Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu.