The police raided the headquarters of Turkey’s most widely watched opposition news channel on Wednesday and a court appointed a government administrator to run it, the latest in a series of legal moves by the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan against political rivals.
The channel, Halk TV, switched at 6:30 a.m. local time from its normal live newscast to archival content. It announced on its website that “hundreds of police” had come into its offices and were barring people from entering.
The Istanbul Chief Prosecutor’s Office said the raid was part of an investigation into the channel’s chairman, Cafer Mahiroglu, on suspicion of bribery, bid rigging and money laundering. It ordered the detention of 17 people, 11 of whom had already been arrested.
Mr. Mahiroglu was ordered detained but he is outside Turkey. He has denied all charges.
The government’s seizure of Halk TV, the country’s last mainstream news channel critical of Mr. Erdogan, elevated concerns about press freedom in Turkey and prompted new accusations that the government was using the law to weaken its political opposition.
“A dawn raid on a television channel, appointing a trustee — only dictators would do such a thing,” Ozgur Ozel, the head of Turkey’s largest opposition party, wrote on social media.
He accused the government of appointing administrators, known as “trustees,” to run companies, municipalities and television stations as a way to “trample the people’s will” amid widespread concern over Turkey’s economic situation.
Halk TV is the fifth major Turkish news outlet to have its leadership replaced by the government. The station provided continuous coverage of local and international news but with a clear orientation toward the political opposition, whose speeches, rallies and meetings other channels ignore.
During the last two years, the government has launched a vast series of legal moves against Mr. Erdogan’s political foes. Scores of opposition party figures, including mayors, have been arrested, mostly on corruption-related charges.
The crackdown has altered Turkey’s political map. A court ruling caused the country’s largest opposition party to split in two, dividing Mr. Erdogan’s foes. Some opposition mayors have been removed from office and replaced by members of Mr. Erdogan’s governing Justice and Development Party.
Last week, the mayor of Izmir, Turkey’s third largest city and a historic opposition bastion, defected from the opposition to Mr. Erdogan’s party.
The government says its legal system is free from political interference. Mr. Erdogan has characterized the opposition as deeply corrupt, comparing the spread of what he has characterized as its schemes to “the arms of an octopus.”
In an interview, Bahadır Ozgur, an investigative columnist and correspondent at Halk TV, said the police had arrived before dawn on Wednesday, blocked access to the street and searched the headquarters.
No journalists remain in the channel’s control room, he said, and its social media accounts were all now controlled by the government-appointed overseer.
He said the seizure of the channel was part of a broad effort by the government to “incapacitate all of the opposition’s means” since it won local elections in many of Turkey’s largest cities in 2024.
“It was Halk TV’s turn as the most effective media outlet of the opposition,” Mr. Ozgur said.
Mr. Mahiroglu, the chairman of the channel, said in a video posted on social media that seven members of his family had been arrested, including his 70-year-old brother.
“Today is a dark day for Turkey,” he said. “People’s right to receive news is being prevented, with political aims.”
The end of Halk TV’s live newscast came hours before a top opposition politician, Ekrem Imamoglu, was expected to present his defense in court against charges that he ran a criminal organization inside Istanbul’s City Hall while serving as mayor between 2019 and 2025.
The channel was expected to cover the defense, while Turkey’s government-aligned channels have largely ignored the trial.
Mr. Imamoglu, who was arrested last year after announcing that he planned to challenge Mr. Erdogan in Turkey’s next presidential election, has dismissed the charges against him as politically motivated. He recently intended to publish a book to make his case directly to Turkish voters, but it was banned just days before it was to hit the shelves.
Turkey rated 163rd out of 180 countries on Reporters Without Borders’ 2026 World Press Freedom Index.
“Authoritarianism is gaining ground in Turkey and media pluralism is being called into question,” the organization wrote. “All possible means are used to undermine critics.”
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