Police at the headquarters of the pro-opposition Turkish TV, broadcasts suspended

Police have taken control of the headquarters of the main opposition television channel, Halk TV, and interrupted its live broadcast, the channel announced this morning.

"The police are in the Halk TV building. An administrator has been appointed (to take control of the channel). The live broadcast has been stopped," the channel said on X.

During the police search shortly after 6am at Halk TV's headquarters in Istanbul, employees were prevented from entering the building and 11 people were placed in custody while arrest warrants were issued for 17 people in total, including Harika Akkaya, one of the channel's executives, broadcaster NTV reported.

According to local media reports, the police operation against the opposition TV channel is linked to an investigation against the owner of Halk TV, Cafer Mahiroglu, for alleged crimes of "corruption", "bid-rigging" and "money laundering", and a judicial administrator has been appointed for the channel while live broadcasts have been stopped and a rerun of a program is broadcast on the channel.