A police raid halted Halk TV’s broadcasts in Istanbul, and a government-appointed administrator was put in charge. The intervention came as jailed Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu began his defence in a major corruption trial.
At about 6:30 a.m. on Wednesday, 14 October, Halk TV’s live broadcast was interrupted. The channel switched to prerecorded programmes. Police had raided its Istanbul offices before dawn, and Cumhuriyet reported that staff were blocked from entering.
Halk TV is one of Turkey’s most-watched broadcasters and a prominent critic of the government. A government-appointed administrator is to run the company. The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office said Halk TV and companies linked to its owner, Cafer Mahiroglu, had been placed under the management of the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund, or TMSF.
The broadcaster’s editor, Suat Toktas, refused to cooperate with the appointee, Halk TV reported on its website. He later asked to keep live programmes on air. Turkish Minute reported that the request was rejected. The channel was showing reruns of a cooking and nature programme.
The takeover came on the day Ekrem Imamoglu began presenting his defence in a corruption trial. The jailed Istanbul mayor is the main opposition’s presidential candidate. Opposition leader Özgür Özel linked the intervention at Halk TV to the start of the hearings.
That timing is central to the opposition’s criticism. Özel says the cases against Imamoglu and other mayors, along with investigations targeting the opposition, are politically driven efforts to keep his party from power. He also says they are intended to stop Imamoglu challenging President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the ballot box. Those are the opposition’s claims, not an established finding in the case against the broadcaster’s owner.
The Istanbul prosecutor’s office cited alleged bribery. It also cited tender-rigging and money laundering connected to municipal tenders in Izmir. The allegations concern another company owned by Cafer Mahiroglu, Halk TV’s owner and board chairman. Prosecutors allege that an unregistered payment of 14.46 million Turkish lira was linked to Izmir Municipality tenders and companies owned or managed by Mahiroglu.
The investigation also concerns BUSTECH Vehicle Maintenance and Repair Services Inc. Prosecutors allege Mahiroglu used connections at the municipality to help establish the company and secure an improper benefit through tenders. The prosecutor’s office ordered the detention of 17 people. Eleven had been detained, according to its statement cited by Cumhuriyet. The statement did not identify them. Mahiroglu was outside Turkey and had not been detained.
Imamoglu has been in prison since his detention on 19 March 2025. He is one of 436 defendants in the case, with 53 in pre-trial detention. Prosecutors accuse him of creating and leading a criminal organisation, among other offences, and are seeking a sentence of up to 2,352 years. His defence is scheduled to last four days. Prosecutors and lawyers may question him afterwards.
Imamoglu and the opposition had asked for the hearings to be broadcast live. The request was rejected. The trial’s scale and the refusal to televise it have become part of the opposition’s dispute with the government. The case concerning Mahiroglu’s other company remains the stated basis for the intervention at Halk TV. The allegations against Mahiroglu have not been established by a final court judgment.
Founded in 2005, Halk TV has links to Turkey’s social-democratic opposition. It has faced administrative fines and temporary suspensions of interview programmes over comments authorities deemed disrespectful. Yeni Parti described the latest intervention as an act characteristic of dictatorships. Özel condemned the pre-dawn raid on social media.
