Turkey trustee curbs content on pro-opposition TV channel

Turkey's authorities have seized control of a pro-opposition TV channel, overseeing broadcasts and shutting down its YouTube channel on Saturday after arresting its editor-in-chief in an espionage investigation.

Tele1's Merdan Yanardag was arrested as part of a newly initiated spying probe into the city's jailed opposition mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu.

Imamoglu was detained in March in a graft probe widely seen as politically motivated and is set to appear before a judge on Sunday morning over the spying allegations, the main opposition CHP said on X.

The party has called for a rally of support outside Istanbul's Caglayan courthouse.

Yanardag's detention was extended by 24 hours on Saturday, he said in a post on X communicated through his lawyers, just hours after after a government-appointed trustee began running Tele1.

"This is a sign the country is heading towards a totalitarian regime. It is a severe blow to press freedom," he wrote.

"This is bullying. It is eliminating press and freedom of expression. It is intolerance towards independent media and opposing views."

News of Tele1's takeover by a government-appointed trustee was announced by the channel itself late Friday, with its broadcasts quickly stripped of all hard news content in favour of documentaries and health-related programmes, AFP correspondents said.

Throughout the day, content on Tele1's YouTube channel could be seen disappearing, with the number of earlier broadcasts visibly dropping - reportedly being deleted - until eventually it disappeared leaving only the message: "This channel is not available."

CHP leader Ozgur Ozel lashed out the spying charge as "utterly absurd" in a post on X which said Tele1 had been targeted because "it reports the facts" and accusing the government of "trying to spread fear" among politicians, civil society, the business and art world and the media.

The channel was taken over by the TMSF (Savings Deposit Insurance Fund of Turkey), a body which last month was appointed trustee over Can Holding, a 121-company conglomerate that includes three major television stations, following allegations of fraud.