Reacting to a police raid of the headquarters of Halk TV, one of Türkiye’s few broadcasters not aligned with the government, and the appointment of a trustee manager to oversee it as part of an investigation into alleged corruption, Esther Major, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for Europe, said:
“This alarming move is a brutal blow to media freedom in what appears to be the latest attempt by Turkish authorities to silence opposition voices.
“The dawn raid and the takeover by state appointed trustees of one of Türkiye’s main opposition television channels is a direct assault on the right to freedom of expression.
Turkish authorities must restore Halk TV’s independent operations and end their attacks on media freedom
Esther Major, Amnesty International
“The raid comes on the same day that Ekrem Imamoğlu, widely seen as President’s Erdoğan’s biggest political rival, is due to give testimony in a trial that would likely have been extensively covered by Halk TV. It also comes just days before the first anniversary of the seizure of pro-opposition Turkish news television channel TELE1.
“Turkish authorities must immediately restore Halk TV’s independent operations and end their attacks on media freedom.”
Background
Halk TV has reportedly said that its employees were unable to enter the building in Istanbul on Wednesday morning, and that a new manager had been appointed to run the channel. Media reports claim financial crimes police were searching the building and 17 arrest warrants had been issued including against 11 people who were taken into police custody.
On Monday, Amnesty International joined 20 human rights and media freedom organizations to call on social media platforms, including X and Meta, to resist Turkish court orders blocking hundreds of accounts belonging to journalists and activists and call on the Turkish government to stop issuing the blocking orders, which violate freedom of expression.