Turkish police raided the headquarters of the main independent TV channel Halk TV in Istanbul on Wednesday, October 14, forcing the channel to stop broadcasting live, according to what the channel reported on the X platform.
The channel said in its post: “Police are at the Halk TV building. A judicial director has been appointed for Turkey’s independent and impartial news channel, Halk TV.”
She added that there was an inspection of the channel's headquarters and police forces were deployed around the headquarters, "and entry into the building was not allowed."
Officers of the Financial Crimes Investigation Department raided the building in the Zeytinburnu neighborhood in search of evidence linking the channel’s board chairman, Cafar Mahiroğlu, to corruption cases and alleged bid rigging, while riot police secured the surrounding area.
The channel's owner, Jafar Mahiroğlu, described what happened as a "black day" in Turkey's history, "taking away" the public's right to obtain information, and confirmed the arrest of seven members of his family, including his 70-year-old brother.
Mahroğlu said in a statement broadcast on social media: “Turkey does not deserve this cruelty, and the channel does not belong to us, but rather to the people, and we will definitely take it back,” and he appealed to the government to reverse this “wrong” step.
The head of the channel's board of directors, who is outside Türkiye, denied all the accusations against him and that they were "baseless," refusing to let the judiciary turn into a "weapon" in the hands of the government.
The Public Prosecution in Istanbul announced the details of the investigation that led, on Wednesday morning, to placing the Halk TV channel under the guardianship of the Turkish Deposit Guarantee Fund and stopping its regular broadcasting, according to what BBC Turkish reported.
The prosecution said in a statement that the investigation is targeting Jafar Mahiroğlu, Chairman of the Channel’s Board of Directors, on charges of bribery, rigging tenders, and money laundering of criminal proceeds. She explained that arrest warrants were issued against 17 suspects, 11 of whom were arrested in simultaneous operations, while 4 of them are outside the country and another is in prison, and efforts are continuing to arrest a fugitive suspect. According to the statement, Mahiroğlu is outside Türkiye.
Mahiroğlu had previously been subjected to investigation on charges of interfering in public tender procedures, and he was investigated based on the statements of Turkish businessman Aziz Ihsan Aktaş, and subsequent investigations. An arrest warrant was issued against Mahiroğlu in June 2025 after the authorities confirmed that he was outside the country.
Aktaş is under investigation on charges that include leading a criminal organization, rigging public tenders, bribery, money laundering, and tax evasion.
Mahiroğlu denied the existence of a relationship between him and Ihsan Aktaş, and denied the charges against him.
Jafar Mahiroglu blamed the former leader of the opposition Republican People's Party, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, and his allies, and that they were behind his pursuit.
In his statement about the canal raid, he said: "CHP leader Kilicdaroglu and his team can be happy. The police are in the Hulk Canal."
Halk TV is one of the main channels of the Turkish opposition, and Turkish media reported that the authorities appointed a “guardian” for the channel early Wednesday morning as part of an investigation into corruption cases.
Disagreements have escalated between Mahroğlu and Kilicdar, who is always critical of the channel and its owner, and in recent days, the former party leader has questioned the channel's coverage and called on the Media Regulatory Authority to examine its programs.
Kilicdaroglu returned to the leadership of the Republican People's Party (CHP), the main opposition party, in May 2026 after an appealed court ruling at the party's 2023 congress, deepening the internal power struggle between him and supporters of his successor, Ozgur Ozil.
The current head of the Republican People's Party, Ozgur Ozal, condemned this move, describing it as "dictatorial practices" and an attack on freedom of the press.
