Halk TV probe hits ex-İzmir officials; owner turns his fire on Kılıçdaroğlu, who vows a slander complaint

Turkish police detained seven people on Tuesday in a second wave of the bribery and money-laundering investigation that led the state to take over Halk TV, the country's best-known pro-opposition news channel, last month. Those detained include a former secretary-general of the İzmir Metropolitan Municipality and two officials from its equipment supply department. Prosecutors say a company set up in İzmir in 2021 won the city's contracts with the help of bribes and that the money helped fund the channel.

The channel's owner, Cafer Mahiroğlu, who lives in London and faces an arrest warrant, says the case is political. Within hours of the raids, he accused the camp of Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, whom a court returned to the leadership of the Republican People's Party (CHP) in May, of trying to seize the channel. Kılıçdaroğlu's press adviser answered that the party would file a criminal complaint against Mahiroğlu for defamation. The prosecutors' accusations have not been tested in court, and no indictment has been made public.

Quotations from Turkish-language sources in this article are 567politics translations.

What happened on Tuesday#

The İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office ordered eight people detained in what it called the "second wave" of its investigation into Mahiroğlu for "bribery," "bid rigging" and "laundering assets derived from crime," according to Anadolu Agency, the state news agency. Police carried out simultaneous raids in İstanbul, İzmir, Ankara and Eskişehir and detained seven of them.

The prosecutors' list names seven people:

• Ramazan Tezcan, a former secretary-general of the İzmir Metropolitan Municipality
• Haluk Harun Tuzsuzoğlu, a former head of the municipality's equipment supply department
• Mehmet Meral, an inspector in that department
• İbrahim Tuncol, a former municipal employee who is already in custody in another case
• Filiz Bulut, İbrahim Seyfittinoğlu and Murat Topuz

Seyfittinoğlu is a partner in two construction companies, Euronews Türkçe reported. Others on the list work for BUSTECH, the vehicle-maintenance company at the center of the case, according to Turkish Minute. Police are still looking for Emre Kaya, the owner of an Eskişehir company called ESBAKIM.

The numbers do not fully add up. Euronews Türkçe pointed out that the prosecutors' list counts Tuncol, who was already jailed in another case, among the seven detained, while Kaya is at large. That leaves open exactly who was taken into custody on Tuesday. The prosecutors had not clarified the point when this story was written.

What prosecutors allege#

The prosecutors' case rests on one company. According to the statement carried by Anadolu, BUSTECH Araç Bakım Onarım Hizmetleri AŞ was "set up as a front" for Mahiroğlu in İzmir in 2021 and won municipal contracts improperly. Its proceeds, prosecutors say, funded Halk TV, a textile company called Özdemir Üç Tekstil, other companies and Mahiroğlu's personal accounts. They say the money was moved between accounts several times in a short period to hide where it came from.

The new allegation in Tuesday's statement comes from a secret witness and from suspects cooperating under Turkey's "effective remorse" provisions, which can reduce penalties for those who give evidence. According to their statements, as summarized by prosecutors, contracts for vehicle maintenance, cleaning and mask purchases were obtained from the İzmir municipality "so that Halk TV would not face economic difficulty" after Mahiroğlu bought it. Bribes in foreign currency and lira were paid by hand to the officials responsible during the tender and payment process, the prosecutors allege.

Prosecutors also say Halk TV was "used as a shield against society" during this process. The statement does not explain what that means in practice.

The figures from the October statement, repeated in Tuesday's reports, are large. Prosecutors said unrecorded bribes of 14.46 million lira were paid in connection with the tenders, and that work was billed at prices far above the tender amounts. They said companies linked to Mahiroğlu had a total transaction volume of 30.35 billion lira, according to data from MASAK, the Financial Crimes Investigation Board. Those figures are the prosecutors' assessments. They have not been examined by a court.

İzmir's metropolitan municipality, Turkey's third-largest city government, has been run by the CHP for decades. The investigation is one of several in which prosecutors have targeted CHP-run municipalities, including the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality case against Ekrem İmamoğlu.

How the case grew#

The investigation became public on October 14, when police entered Halk TV's İstanbul headquarters before dawn. A criminal judgeship of peace seized companies in which Mahiroğlu is a partner or manager, and the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF), a state agency, was appointed as trustee. The channel's live broadcasts were cut after the trustee arrived, and a court later blocked access to Halk TV's social media accounts, Anadolu reported.

In that first wave, prosecutors ordered 17 people detained and police caught 11. Four suspects, including Mahiroğlu, were abroad. Of 12 people sent to court, four were jailed pending trial, four were placed under house arrest and four under judicial supervision. One more person was later detained and jailed, bringing the number in pre-trial detention to five, T24 reported.

• Detention orders
• Detained

0

5

10

15

20

First wave, Oct. 14Detention orders: 17Detained: 11

Second wave, Nov. 10Detention orders: 8Detained: 7

First wave, Oct. 14Second wave, Nov. 10

Source: Anadolu Agency, T24

Show the numbers

Operation	Detention orders	Detained
First wave, Oct. 14	17	11
Second wave, Nov. 10	8	7

Mahiroğlu also faces an arrest warrant issued in June 2025 in a separate bid-rigging investigation involving the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality, Turkish Minute reported. Prosecutors say he left Turkey on March 10, 2025. He has denied those accusations too.

Mahiroğlu: "I know only two of them"#

Mahiroğlu responded on X on Tuesday morning, a few hours after the raids.

View this post on X

"I understand the rush to present the Halk TV operation as a 'Cafer Mahiroğlu operation,'" he wrote. "But I know only two of those detained in this morning's dawn raids. The purpose of the Halk TV operations is now a truth known to everyone."

He then accused Kılıçdaroğlu's camp, whom he called "Mr. Nullity Kılıçdaroğlu and his team," of trying "step by step" to take over Halk TV, which he said they see as "the second fortress of the opposition after the CHP." He alleged that BUSTECH's founder, whom he named as Yusuf Yadoğlu, met the "nullity team" in Ankara and then gave prosecutors statements that "completely contradict" testimony he gave two years earlier. He alleged that Yadoğlu's travel ban was then lifted and that he left the country. 567politics could not verify any of these claims. Prosecutors have not commented on them.

Mahiroğlu ended with a question: "Mr. Nullity Kılıçdaroğlu, did you ask Cafer Mahiroğlu for $50 million? Will you explain this to the public?" He offered no evidence for the suggestion in the post.

He has said since October that the takeover of Halk TV was meant to divert attention from a large investment-fund scandal involving figures linked to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), Turkish Minute reported. That scandal, which 567politics has covered in reports on the fund investigation, has affected nearly half a million individual investors.

Kılıçdaroğlu's camp: a complaint for "slander"#

The response came from Atakan Sönmez, Kılıçdaroğlu's press adviser. "Legal proceedings will be started against the unfounded allegations made about our Chairman Mr. Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu by the person named Cafer Mahiroğlu, who is under investigation for 'bribery,' 'bid rigging' and 'laundering assets derived from crime' and is known to be a fugitive abroad," he wrote, according to Habertürk and Cumhuriyet.

He said a criminal complaint would be filed for "publicly spreading misleading information" and "slander." "We invite this person, who cannot grasp that the CHP chairman cannot be brought to heel with threats, blackmail and slander, to settle accounts before the courts to prove the unfounded slanders he has made," Sönmez wrote. "We expect Cafer Mahiroğlu, who says he trusts his country and the state of the Republic of Turkey, to use this opportunity to end his longing for his homeland." The last line was an invitation to return to Turkey, where he faces arrest.

Why the dispute matters for the opposition#

The exchange shows how far the split in Turkey's main opposition has gone. Kılıçdaroğlu led the CHP from 2010 to 2023. A court ruling of "absolute nullity" on May 21, 2026, annulled the congress that had replaced him and returned him to the leadership. His successor, Özgür Özel, now leads the breakaway YENİ Parti. Supporters of Özel use the word "nullity" for Kılıçdaroğlu's leadership. Cumhuriyet, which backs Özel's side, now calls the party "Butlan CHP," or "Nullity CHP." Our report on Kılıçdaroğlu's call to lift lawmakers' immunity explains the rift.

Halk TV, which Mahiroğlu bought in 2020, was widely seen as close to the CHP leadership under Özel. Its takeover by a state trustee in October drew criticism from press-freedom groups and from the European Parliament's Turkey rapporteur, Deutsche Welle's Turkish service reported at the time. Prosecutors present the case as a criminal investigation into municipal contracts. Mahiroğlu now accuses Kılıçdaroğlu's side, rather than only the government, of being behind the operation. That widens the dispute from one between the government and the opposition to one inside the opposition itself.

What to watch#

The seven detained can be held for questioning for several days before they are brought before a judge, who will decide whether to jail them pending trial. Their statements could widen the case further. Prosecutors have not said whether they will seek Mahiroğlu's extradition from the United Kingdom.

The complaint Sönmez announced would go to prosecutors, who would decide whether to open a defamation case against Mahiroğlu. Halk TV remains under TMSF management. The trustee has not said whether live broadcasting will resume.

How we reported this#

567politics read the prosecutors' statement as carried by Anadolu Agency and T24, Turkish Minute's English-language report, Euronews Türkçe's account of the list of suspects, and the statements by Sönmez as reported by Habertürk and Cumhuriyet. Mahiroğlu's post was read on X. We did not find an indictment or court ruling in the case. The figures attributed to prosecutors are their allegations. Euronews Türkçe's note on the discrepancy in the detainee count could not be resolved with the prosecutors' statement. See our methodology for how we source and check stories.

Differing perspectives

Is the Halk TV investigation a legitimate corruption case or a political move against the channel?

Each position is summarized as its supporters make it, with equal weight and in alphabetical order. A summary is not an endorsement; the evidence for each is weighed in the story above.

• Pursue the bribery and laundering case

  Who holds it: The İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office

  Prosecutors say BUSTECH was set up in İzmir in 2021 as a front for Mahiroğlu and won municipal contracts with bribes paid by hand to officials. They cite a secret witness, cooperating suspects and financial-crimes data, and say the proceeds funded Halk TV, a textile firm and personal accounts after being moved between accounts to hide their source.

  In their words: Anadolu Agency (prosecutors' statement) ↗

• Reject the accusations and sue for slander

  Who holds it: CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu's office, through press adviser Atakan Sönmez

  Kılıçdaroğlu's office says Mahiroğlu, who is under investigation and abroad, made unfounded allegations against the party leader. It will file a criminal complaint for publicly spreading misleading information and slander. It says the CHP chairman cannot be pressured by threats, blackmail or slander, and invites Mahiroğlu to prove his claims before Turkish courts.

  In their words: Habertürk ↗

• Treat it as a plan to seize the channel

  Who holds it: Halk TV owner Cafer Mahiroğlu

  Mahiroğlu says he knows only two of the people detained and that the purpose of the operations is to take over Halk TV, which he calls the opposition's second fortress after the CHP. He alleges that Kılıçdaroğlu's camp worked with a key witness who changed his testimony, and he has also linked the takeover to diverting attention from the investment-fund scandal.

  In their words: Cafer Mahiroğlu on X ↗

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