ISTANBUL (AP) — Authorities on Wednesday raided the headquarters of one of Turkey ’s few broadcasters not aligned with the government, and appointed a trustee manager to oversee it as part of an investigation into alleged corruption.
Press freedom groups and opposition parties, however, denounced the move against Halk TV, calling it yet another step by the government to silence opposition voices.
Press freedoms in Turkey have steadily eroded during the more than two decades that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been in power and a majority of media outlets are under government control. The country ranks 163rd out of 180 countries according to the Reporters Without Borders’ world press freedom index.
A statement from the Istanbul Chief Prosecutor’s Office said an investigation was launched into Halk TV chairman Cafer Mahiroglu over allegations of bid rigging, bribery and money laundering.
Detention warrants were issued against 17 suspects and 11 of them were taken into custody, the statement said.
The channel’s broadcasts were temporarily halted. Police surrounded the station’s headquarters while financial crimes investigation teams conducted searches inside, media reports said.
In a video message posted on X, Mahiroglu condemned the appointment of a trustee, calling it a politically motivated move and a “dark day for Turkey.” Mahiroglu, who lives abroad, denied the allegations against him as “baseless” and said seven of his relatives were detained.
The Ankara-based Contemporary Journalists Association decried the action against the channel.
“The appointment of a trustee to Halk TV and the suspension of its broadcast constitute a grave intervention against press freedom and freedom of expression,” the group said. “This decision, which disregards constitutional rights and the public’s right to access information, is unacceptable.”
Ozgur Ozel, the leader of the main opposition New Party, said the raid amounted to an abuse of power by the government.
“Raiding a television channel at dawn and appointing a trustee is an act only dictators would commit,” he wrote on X. “Unfortunately, this is the state to which they have reduced our country.”
Last week, two journalists were arrested and two others were placed under house arrest for alleged misleading reports on a recent Turkish investment fund scandal — which has implicated a senior figure from Erdogan’s ruling party.
On Monday, international and Turkish human rights groups urged social media platforms, including X, to resist court orders blocking hundreds of accounts belonging to journalists and activists. They also called on the Turkish government to stop issuing orders to block the accounts.
The government has cited public safety concerns to justify the restrictions.
FILE -Screens at Turkish Halk TV news channel headquarters display Turkish President and People's Alliance's presidential candidate Recep Tayyip Erdogan, top, speaking during a rally, in Istanbul, Turkey, May 5, 2023. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel, File)
FILE -Screens, placed in Turkish Halk TV news channel headquarters, display Turkish President and People's Alliance's presidential candidate Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaking during a rally, in Istanbul, Turkey, May 5, 2023. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel, File)
U.S. President Donald Trump said “massive” oil, gas and mineral exploration is set to begin in “our new and beautiful Greenland ” early Wednesday.
It wasn’t immediately clear what exploration or developments the U.S. president was referring to in his post, and Greenland is a self-governing territory of Denmark, rather than a part of the United States.
Trump posted on his Truth Social platform following a campaign event Tuesday in Wasilla, Alaska, to stump for Republican U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan as he seeks his third term to represent the state in an election against Democratic former U.S. congresswoman Mary Peltola.
Rising energy prices — a direct result of Trump’s war in Iran — are creating serious and sustained financial hardships for America’s working class ahead of the midterm elections next month. Trump’s comments Wednesday are likely aimed at addressing voters’ concerns before they head to the polls.
But despite Trump’s optimism, resource exploration and extraction in Greenland has stymied companies for decades thanks to the island’s harsh climate, lack of key infrastructure and difficult geology. Previous efforts to extract so-called rare earth minerals, as well as oil and gas, have never progressed beyond the exploratory stage.
Trump’s comments about the Arctic island come less than a month after he signed an agreement with the leaders of Denmark and Greenland to strengthen security in the Arctic and North Atlantic following months of tensions with NATO allies over the U.S. president's repeated demands to take control of the semiautonomous Danish territory. It does not grant the U.S. any special exploration rights, but does place some limits on investments by non-NATO countries in strategic sectors.
The deal also paved the way for more U.S. bases in Greenland and eased tensions over Trump's repeated calls for Greenland to become part of the United States. The agreement would still apply if Greenland eventually chooses independence.
Trump has expressed his desire to acquire Greenland since as long ago as 2019 and, during his second term, issued threats to seize the territory from Denmark, a NATO ally.
Representatives of the leaders of Denmark and Greenland did not immediately return requests for comment Wednesday.
Greenland has large deposits of the rare earth minerals that are needed to make everything from computers and smartphones to the batteries, solar and wind technologies that will power the transition away from fossil fuels. China currently dominates the world's supply of these critical minerals and the Trump administration is seeking to break Beijing's chokehold on them.
The U.S. Geological Survey has also identified major potential offshore deposits of oil and natural gas.
But tapping these resources could be prohibitively difficult: the rare earth minerals are encased in rock, and the offshore oil and natural gas deposits are covered by Arctic ice.
Trump's Truth Social post also touted Greenland's strategic location, saying that “from a Security Purpose in the Defense and Offense of both the United States of America, and Europe,” the island is “second to none.”
“Any future attack on the United States will have to come across Greenland, where our Defense will routinely knock down drones, missiles, or any other form of weapon not yet even conceived," he wrote. "It gives us time, location, and sightline, like nowhere else in the World!”
The United States was prominent in Greenland for decades but, since 1945, the U.S. military presence in Greenland has decreased from thousands of soldiers on 17 bases and installations to roughly 200 soldiers on the remote Pituffik Space Base in the northwest. The base supports missile warning, missile defense and space surveillance operations for the U.S. and NATO.
Trump said last month that the U.S. would “immediately begin the process of developing a large military presence in the appropriate locations,” including “building two very major military bases.”
President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at the Curtis D. Menard Memorial Sports Center, Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026, in Wasilla, Alaska. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
