Turkey forces Egyptian opposition media to stop broadcasting certain programmes

Turkey is once again demonstrating its control of the media. This time it has done so in an attempt to prevent the good contacts it has been having with Egypt for months from going awry. Some pro-opposition media outlets based in Istanbul have been given a wake-up call by Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government, forcing them to withdraw some of the programmes they have been broadcasting for fear that they might not sit well with what Ankara claims to be strong allies.

This is nothing new for the media closest to the Egyptian opposition. While it is true that freedom of expression in Turkey has been conspicuous by its absence for years, these media outlets were warned three months ago to change the messages they were broadcasting against Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. According to a senior Turkish government official, 'they were asked to soften their political criticism of the Egyptian government and stop personally attacking al-Sisi'. This was welcomed by Cairo, which in turn issued an 'appeal for calm' to its media and called the Turkish move 'a good initiative that establishes a favourable atmosphere for discussing contentious issues between the two nations'. 

Egypt and Turkey's poor relations over the past eight years appear to have improved greatly in recent times. This is evidenced by the fact that an expedition of senior Egyptian diplomats is scheduled to visit Turkey in the coming months. The confrontation between the two countries over issues such as the Libyan War or the dispute over the waters of the eastern Mediterranean may be put on the back burner, as Ankara seems to be willing to give in to the idea of having a strong ally in Cairo, such as the country presided over by Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

The Muslim Brotherhood has been the main problem since the coup that overthrew Mohamed Morsi in 2013 and caused Turkey to sever all diplomatic relations with Egypt. Since then, Cairo has been fighting against the organisation - widely considered by the US, Russia and Egypt itself as a terrorist entity - which has had in Erdogan its greatest political ally. However, the Turkish president's interest in gaining influence in the eastern part of the Mediterranean has led him to make a radical shift in his country's foreign policy, which is now sidelining the Muslim Brotherhood in an attempt to move closer to Al-Sisi's side. 

The first Turkish-Egyptian meetings took place as early as May. Sedat Önal, Turkey's deputy foreign minister, led an expedition to Egypt's capital, where he met with his counterpart Hamdi Lozda. What was the first contact between the two countries in eight years resulted in a communiqué in which the two sides stated that the "exploratory talks will focus on the necessary steps that can lead to the normalisation of relations between the two countries, bilaterally and in the regional context".

The main aim of the new measure imposed by Erdogan's government is to ensure that the reconstruction of diplomatic relations, which has been going on for months, does not collapse. Despite the fact that both sides have been willing to work together for a long time, as both can benefit greatly from good ties, the tension has by no means disappeared. That is why Recep Tayyip Erdogan knows that he must keep everything under control - something he has been doing since he came to power and has had no problem applying an iron fist - if he is to take advantage of a link that he hopes can guarantee his country a strategic position in the eastern Mediterranean.