Turkish authorities blocked Halk TV’s accounts on six social media platforms on Oct. 14, just hours after a state-appointed trustee took control of the broadcaster and its live broadcasts were suspended. Accounts belonging to the Workers’ Party of Turkey (TİP), Mezopotamya Agency, the Kurdish-language newspaper Azadîya Welat and journalist Bahadır Özgür were also targeted by access restrictions during the week of Oct. 12-18. Nine news reports concerning Justice Minister Akın Gürlek’s assets were blocked under a single court order.
According to the Free Web weekly monitoring bulletin published by the Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA), access restrictions continued throughout the week, with news organizations and journalists among those most affected.
Halk TV accounts blocked on six platforms
Halk TV’s accounts on YouTube, X, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Telegram were subjected to access bans on Oct. 14, hours after Turkey’s Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF) was appointed as a trustee to manage the broadcaster and its live broadcasts were halted.
The accounts had a combined following of more than 8.5 million users.
The restrictions were imposed under Article 8/A of Turkey’s Internet Law No. 5651, which allows authorities to restrict online access on grounds including national security and public order. Neither the authority that issued the orders nor the relevant decision numbers were disclosed.
The trustee appointment came as part of an investigation by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office into Halk TV owner Cafer Mahiroğlu, who faces allegations of bribery, bid rigging and money laundering. Mahiroğlu has denied the allegations.
Halk TV Editor-in-Chief Suat Toktaş described the trustee appointment as unlawful after a request to continue live broadcasting was rejected. Toktaş stepped down from his position on Oct. 16.
Workers’ Party of Turkey and Kurdish media accounts targeted
On Oct. 14, the same day Halk TV’s accounts were blocked, an access restriction order was also issued against the Workers’ Party of Turkey’s (TİP) X account, @tipgenelmerkez, which had approximately 582,000 followers.
The order was issued under Article 8/A of Law No. 5651. TİP said a similar order had been issued against the account of its Istanbul provincial branch.
At the time the decision became public, X had not yet withheld the party’s main account in Turkey.
TİP said it learned of the orders through social media and linked the restrictions to its statements and broadcasts concerning alleged financial irregularities involving funds. The party described the measures as an attempt to silence a political party, saying they violated fundamental freedoms and the law.
Mezopotamya Agency’s (MA) X account, @mezopotamyatrk3, was also withheld in Turkey on Oct. 14 following a notification from the Cybersecurity Presidency. The agency’s website had previously been blocked on Oct. 6. MA continues to publish through a new social media account.
Journalist Ahmet Nesin’s Instagram account, which had approximately 233,000 followers, was also subjected to an access restriction on Oct. 14 under the same legal provision.
The Instagram account of Azadîya Welat, a Kurdish-language newspaper, was blocked on Oct. 17. The newspaper continues publishing through a new account.
Journalist’s account blocked before detention
An access restriction order was issued against the X account of Bahadır Özgür, a journalist and Halk TV contributor, on Oct. 15. His account had approximately 163,000 followers.
Özgür was detained that evening on suspicion of "violating the confidentiality of an investigation."
He was released on Oct. 16 under judicial supervision measures requiring him to report regularly to authorities and prohibiting him from traveling abroad.
When the access restriction order became public, X had not yet withheld Özgür’s account in Turkey.
Nine news reports on justice minister’s assets blocked under single order
A court order dated Oct. 10, issued by the Bakırköy First Criminal Judgeship of Peace in Istanbul under case number 2026/10177, became public on Oct. 13.
The ruling blocked access to nine news reports published by eight media outlets: 12punto, İlke TV, Medyascope, BirGün, Gazete Pencere, bianet, Cumhuriyet and 10Haber.
The reports covered statements by YENİ Party leader Özgür Özel and TİP lawmaker Ahmet Şık, who represents Istanbul in Turkey’s Parliament, concerning Justice Minister Akın Gürlek’s assets and real estate holdings.
The restriction was imposed under Article 8/A of Law No. 5651.
The same judgeship also ordered an access ban on a BirGün news report covering questions Şık had directed to Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek about a financial fund crisis.
The court separately blocked three news reports published by Kısa Dalga. These covered Özel’s allegations concerning Gürlek and two parliamentary questions submitted by Şık to Şimşek.
Both sets of restrictions were made public on Oct. 12. The decision numbers were not disclosed.
T24 challenges access ban before Constitutional Court
Independent news outlet T24 filed an individual application with Turkey’s Constitutional Court on Oct. 16, challenging access restrictions imposed on its website and X account in late September.
An earlier objection to the order issued by the Istanbul First Criminal Judgeship of Peace had been rejected by the Istanbul Second Criminal Judgeship of Peace on Oct. 9.
In its Constitutional Court application, T24 argued that although the initial order cited 118 items of content as grounds for the restrictions, the measures effectively blocked access to more than 4 million pieces of content.
The outlet claimed violations of four fundamental rights and requested interim relief and compensation.
T24 General Coordinator Sertuğ Çiçek also said the Press Advertisement Agency, the state body responsible for distributing official public notices to media outlets, had stopped placing official advertisements with T24 following the access ban.
Çiçek described the measure as an attack on the relationship between journalists and their readers.
Rights groups call for an end to online restrictions
Twenty-one human rights and media freedom organizations, including MLSA, issued a joint statement on Oct. 12 calling on Turkish authorities to end access restriction orders that violate freedom of expression.
The organizations also urged social media platforms to reject requests made under Article 8/A unless authorities could demonstrate a concrete and serious threat.
They called for restrictions to target specific pieces of content rather than entire accounts and for users affected by such measures to be notified.
The group called for the trustee arrangement to be terminated and for the broadcaster’s editorial and broadcasting independence to be guaranteed.
On Oct. 15, another coalition of 13 organizations, including MLSA, called for the trustee appointment to be reversed, Halk TV to be allowed to resume broadcasting and restrictions on its social media accounts to be lifted.
International press freedom organizations and the European Parliament’s rapporteur on Turkey also criticized the takeover of Halk TV and the online restrictions imposed on the broadcaster.
Parliamentary proposals on press freedom rejected
Press and freedom of expression concerns were also raised during a session of the Turkish Parliament’s General Assembly on Oct. 15.
The İYİ Party, the DEM Party and the YENİ Party submitted separate parliamentary group motions calling for investigations into press and freedom of expression issues.
The appointment of a trustee to Halk TV was discussed during the debates.
YENİ Party lawmaker Eylem Ertuğ Ertuğrul, who represents the Black Sea province of Zonguldak, also drew attention to the access restrictions imposed on T24.
The motions submitted by the DEM Party and YENİ Party were rejected with votes from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its parliamentary ally, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).
The Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA) is a civil society organization working to protect the right to information, freedom of expression and press freedom in Turkey. The organization provides legal assistance to people facing prosecution for their professional activities, particularly journalists.
