Turkey-Egypt row escalates as Anadolu Agency staff detained in Cairo
Tensions are rising between Turkey and Egypt after four Turkish state news agency employees were detained in Cairo.
Four staff members of the Turkish state news wire, Anadolu Agency, were detained in Cairo and are being held in an undisclosed location in the latest escalation between the Turkish and Egyptian administrations.
The two governments have been at odds since the 2013 coup over former Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi by current leader Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Though few details have emerged regarding a Tuesday evening raid on the agency's Cairo bureau, media professionals say the move may be linked to developments in Libya, where Turkey and Egypt are backing opposing sides in an ongoing civil war.
“These arrests have nothing to do with our journalistic activities,” Metin Mutanoglu, Anadolu's editor-in-chief, told Al-Monitor.
He called for the immediate release of the staff members and said that Egypt’s Interior Ministry had identified the Anadolu Cairo office as a “cell house” for a terrorist organization, calling the statement “direct proof that these arrests are politically motivated.”
