Turkey suspends opposition media channel for 10 days. Here's why

A television news channel affiliated with Turkey's opposition party has been instructed to suspend broadcasts for 10 days over allegations of ‘inciting hatred’, authorities announced on Thursday (June 26), a move condemned by free-press watchdogs. The Turkish media authority, RTUK, ruled that Halk TV had broken rules, particularly when one of the guests on a show said Turkey ‘is not getting more religious, but sectarian’.

The regulator's board said that amounted to "inciting hatred and hostility" -- a ruling condemned by Halk TV and Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

The channel is viewed as aligned to the opposition CHP party, which has been under increasing pressure from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, such as having its leading opponent, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, jailed, a case that triggered huge protests.

The media regulator "takes pleasure in arbitrarily and disproportionately sanctioning all debate or criticism, fuelled by the political and judicial repression targeting the CHP", said Erol Onderoglu of Reporters Without Borders. "We fear opposition TV news channels linked to the CHP may be shut down in the medium term," he was quoted saying to AFP.

In March 2025, the watchdog imposed the same penalty on another opposition channel, Sozcu TV, but then suspended its decision before it came into force. Turkey’s Radio and Television Supreme Council, RTUK, the government agency regulating radio and TV, imposed heavy fines on four TV channels for their broadcasts of mass protests against the arrest of Istanbul mayor and presidential candidate Ekrem Imamoglu.

Ilhan Tasci, a board member of RTUK from the main opposition Republican People’s Party, CHP, who opposed the penalties, said the reason given was “inciting hatred and enmity among the public”. “At today’s meeting of RTUK, the heaviest penalties in its history were imposed by majority vote. These penalties include a 10-day broadcast suspension, the most severe sanction before license revocation, for broadcasts related to the process leading to the arrest of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Imamoglu,” Tasci explained.

Turkey is placed at number 159 among 180 countries in the Reporters Without Borders press freedom ranking. The CHP, which won in the local elections a year ago, has been subjected to a flurry of probes as Turkey rushes towards presidential polls in 2028 in which Imamoglu emerged as Erdogan's strongest contender.