(Adnkronos) – Turkish police raided the headquarters of Halk TV, one of Turkey’s main opposition television channels. Eleven employees of the private channel were arrested. The news, which is just the latest episode in a vast campaign conducted by the Turkish government against the country’s media, political, and associative circles, was announced simultaneously by the Turkish television channel and the Istanbul Public Prosecutor’s Office in the early hours of the day. “Police are inside the Halk TV building. An administrator has been appointed to take control of the broadcaster. Live broadcasts have been interrupted,” the television itself announced on X. “Arrest warrants have been issued for 17 people and 11 people have been detained during simultaneous operations,” as part of an investigation into “corruption, bid rigging in tenders, and money laundering,” the Istanbul Public Prosecutor’s Office announced, cited by Turkish media.
The management of the broadcaster has been entrusted to the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (Tmsf), a public body, the Prosecutor’s Office added. The equipment “has been seized. Our broadcaster is officially under siege. I still cannot access the building where I have worked for five years,” journalist Gamze Altunay wrote on X. In a video shared by Halk TV on the same social network, the managing director Suat Toktaş is seen speaking with the administrator appointed by the authorities, trying to convince him not to interrupt the live broadcast. “What is happening is illegal,” he states. “Raiding a television station at dawn and appointing an administrator is something only dictators would do. Unfortunately, that’s what they did in our country,” Özgür Özel, leader of the main opposition party, denounced on X.
The head of the Turkish television network Halk TV, close to the opposition, strongly protested after police raided the broadcaster’s headquarters. “Today is a dark day for Turkey. Citizens’ right to be informed is being taken away for political reasons,” commented Cafer Mahiroğlu, president of Halk TV, in a video published on X, in which he reported that among those detained are also seven members of his family.
The takeover of Halk TV comes two weeks after the blocking of the independent news site T24, one of the most important in the country, accused of “LGBT propaganda.” Journalists and opposition media are constantly targeted by Turkish justice for a series of alleged offenses, ranging from defamation to insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as well as corruption and the dissemination of false news. According to the Turkish Journalists’ Union, a total of 17 journalists are currently detained. The crackdown also affects political circles, with the arrest of numerous elected representatives of opposition parties.
In mid-September, the government also launched a vast operation against LGBT circles, raiding the headquarters of activist organizations and blocking their social media accounts. In this case too, a large number of people ended up in prison. Almost exactly a year ago, authorities had taken control of the opposition television broadcaster Tele 1 and arrested its managing director.
