ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Turkey on Wednesday raided the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP)-affiliated Halk TV and appointed a “trustee,” with the outlet’s head accusing the newly appointed CHP leader of being linked to the raid and alleging “political motives.”

The outlet's Istanbul headquarters was swarmed by police officers in the early morning, with Halk TV stating that employees “were not allowed inside” as the authorities shuttered broadcasting and began a search of the premises.

“It was learned that a trustee was appointed to Halk TV during the police raid,” the channel reported, adding that the trustee “attempted to take over management.”

“The public’s right to receive news is being obstructed for political motives,” head of Halk TV Cafer Mahiroglu said in a video message on Wednesday.

He accused the newly appointed CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu of starting the dispute earlier this week on the opposition channel by questioning the editorial board for “publishing fake news” from abroad, with Mahiroglu telling him that “history will never forget you and your underhandedness.”

Halk TV, a media outlet affiliated with Turkey's opposition CHP, said Wednesday that its headquarters in Istanbul were raided by police, who suspended broadcasting and refused entry to staff, with a trustee having been appointed to manage the channel. "Dawn raid on a television channel, appointing a trustee — only dictators would do such a thing," former CHP leader Ozgur Ozel wrote on X in response to the news.

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Mahiroglu said that during the raid, seven of his family members were “detained,” including his 70-year-old brother, in what he described as an operation “orchestrated for political motives.”

After the CHP lost the 2024 Turkish presidential election in a landslide and voted to replace its leadership, Kilicdaroglu - who had led the party for nearly 14 years - filed a legal challenge against incumbent Ozgur Ozel, arguing that the congress in which he was replaced had been conducted illegally.

Following a controversial court ruling on the CHP, the leadership of Ozgur Ozel was annulled on disputed legal grounds, with Ozel accusing Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of seeking to quash opposition politics through judicial rulings and install Kilicdaroglu as a pliable figure.

Ozel resigned from the party in July to launch the YENI Parti (New Party), along with 90 other lawmakers.

“Dawn raid on a television channel, appointing a trustee, only dictators would do such a thing,” Ozel wrote on X, adding that “THEY ARE IMPOTENT AND COWARDS!”

“Those who appoint trustees to municipalities and trample the people's will have now appointed a trustee to Halk TV,” he said.

The CHP, previously the second-largest party with 135 lawmakers, now falls to fourth place with 44 seats, behind the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Equality and Democracy (DEM Party), which holds 56 seats.

Erdogan's administration has intensified its crackdown on the CHP since the party secured major victories in the 2024 local elections, with numerous party officials arrested on various charges, including the former Mayor of Istanbul Ekrem Imamoglu, who was poised to be Erdogan's chief competitor in Turkey's next presidential elections.