"The Constitution is Suspended” was the last headline published by Zaman, Turkey’s largest newspaper, on Saturday before being taken over by state administrators.

A Turkish court ruled on Friday that Zaman, which has a circulation of some 650,000, should now be run by administrators. No explanation was given. Today’s Zaman, he newspaper’s English edition was also seized.

Police raided Zaman's Istanbul offices after dispersing some 500 Zaman supporters with water cannon and tear gas who were chanting “The free press cannot be silenced”. 

Zaman is closely linked to the Hizmet movement of US-based cleric Fetullah Gulen. The Turkish government claims that it is a terrorist group seeking to overthrow the regime of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Gulen and Erdogan were once allies but have since had a falling out.

Several Zaman journalists returned to work after the demonstration and tweeted that they had lost internet access and were not able to file articles.

The newspaper's editor-in-chief Abdulhamit Bilici and a leading columnist were fired.

The newspaper's website was still functioning on Saturday, but did not carry news of the raid.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has said the move to seize control of Zaman was "legal, not political".

"It is out of the question for neither me nor any of my colleagues to interfere in this process," he said in a television interview.

The EU's diplomatic service said that Turkey "needs to respect and promote high democratic standards and practices, including freedom of the media", while the US described the move as "troubling".

Turkey ranks 149th among the 180 countries in the Reporters Without Borders' World Press Freedom Index 2015