CAIRO: Four people have been arrested in a raid by Egyptian security forces on the Cairo offices of the Turkish state-run Anadolu news agency.
At least one of those detained is thought to be a Turkish national. Egypt’s charge d’affaires in Ankara was summoned to the Foreign Ministry, who demanded an explanation. Turkey has no diplomatic representation in Cairo.
The ministry called for those arrested to be released immediately. “The raid … is an act of harassment and intimidation against the Turkish press, and we strongly condemn it,” the ministry said.
The raid on Tuesday night has further ratcheted up tensions between Turkey and Egypt, with the two countries backing opposite sides in the conflict in Libya, and alarm in Cairo over a new maritime border treaty between Ankara and the UN-backed Libyan government in Tripoi.
The agreement threatens plans by Egypt and Israel to export gas to Europe, and Egypt has described it as “illegal and not binding.”
Egypt’s Ministry of Defense published video footage this week of military exercises viewed by analysts as a show of strength, and a warning to Ankara not to intervene militarily in Libya.
“Turkey has made progress in recent weeks in the eastern Mediterranean and in Libya, toward peace and stability,” Turkey’s presidential spokesman said on Wednesday.
The spokesman said Egypt was “unable to play a constructive role in achieving regional peace,” and “clearly feels insecure enough to target the media.”