ANKARA (Al Jazeera) – Turkish authorities have asked Egyptian opposition media to stop broadcasting certain programs from inside the country amid efforts to improve strained ties between Ankara and Cairo, Arabi21 news reported, citing officials with knowledge of the decision.
The move comes as a high-ranking delegation of Egyptian diplomats plans to visit Turkey following an eight-year rift, which has seen the regional powerhouses back rival factions in Libya’s war and seen them at odds in a dispute over eastern Mediterranean waters.
The news report comes several months after Ankara ordered the same agencies to tone down their criticism of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
In March, a senior Turkish government official told Middle East Eye that Mekameleen and Al-Sharq, two Egyptian satellite TV channels based in Istanbul, were “asked to soften their political criticisms against the Egyptian government and stop personally attacking Sisi”.
Cairo welcomed the move while indicating that media based in Egypt would also be expected to “adhere to the calm” in terms of coverage regarding Turkish politics.
Ankara has been at odds with Cairo since the 2013 military coup led by then-defense minister Sisi ousted Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s first democratically elected president.
Morsi was a leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s largest political movement, which has since been crushed by Sisi.
Morsi was backed by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who refused to acknowledge Sisi’s legitimacy following the coup.
Since coming to power, Sisi’s government has banned all political opposition and independent media, with many journalists having fled and gone into exile and launching channels abroad, mainly in Turkey.
Wednesday’s decision, yet to be confirmed by the Turkish government, comes at a time in which Egypt is under heightened criticism, particularly in the United States.