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Erdogan's cold war with Saudi Arabia and UAE

Turkey's patience with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates is running low, sources tell Al-Monitor.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan attends a joint news conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin (not pictured) following their talks in Moscow, Russia March 5, 2020. Pavel Golovkin/Pool via REUTERS - RC2UDF9BM4UQ

The latest skirmish between Turkey and the United Arab Emirates-Saudi Arabia bloc is over the media. In mid-April, Saudi Arabia announced it was blocking access to Turkish state-funded news agencies and several websites. Within a week, several Saudi and Emirati news outlets became inaccessible in Turkey.

The head of the Turkish-Arabic Media Association, Turan Kislakci, told Al-Monitor, “This was purely a reciprocal move.” Indeed, Turkey had no intention to censor Saudi-backed media outlets. Most of these outlets operate with the blessing and support of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government. 

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