CAIRO — Reports March 19 suggested that the Turkish authorities are requesting the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated channels based in Istanbul to tone down their rhetoric against Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. These reports raised concerns as to how the Turkish authorities would deal with the organization’s members on its territories, should a reconciliation be achieved between Turkey and the Egyptian government.

Al-Monitor contacted several employees at the Egyptian TV channels based in Turkey — including Mekameleen, El-Sharq and Watan — which are known to have a large number of media figures and professionals who are opposed to the Egyptian government and have been persecuted in Egypt for years for political issues. However, they left for Istanbul following the ouster in 2013 of former Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, who was affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood.

A source at El-Sharq TV, who preferred not to be named since he is not allowed to make media statements, told Al-Monitor, “Until noon on March 19, we have been preparing for programs with the same editorial policy and same issues we had been working on. There was no problem at all — until 6 p.m. that day.”

The Egyptian journalist said he was surprised when the channel's director requested a meeting for all employees and senior anchors. The director, he said, claimed a "high-level Turkish party" requested that the day's episode be canceled and that the channel stop targeting and criticizing the government in Cairo and Sisi himself.