In a sign that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan could be pursuing a historic policy shift, Turkish authorities last week ordered Istanbul-based TV channels affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood to immediately stop airing criticism of Egypt,The underlying message appears to be clear: Reduce criticism against Egyptian President Abdel Fatah el-Sissi and his regime as much as possible. The three Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated channels began broadcasting from Istanbul between the years 2013-2015 following the fall of former Egyptian president Mohammad Morsi, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, and the rise of el-Sissi's regime in 2014.
Erdogan, who is closely identified with the Muslim Brotherhood movement, helped these media outlets find a home in Turkey to disseminate the movement's propaganda, which is outlawed in Egypt. The Turkish president also helped senior Muslim Brotherhood officials immigrate to Turkey to help them escape persecution.
Now, however, Ankara is signaling to Cairo, and Jerusalem for that matter, that it wants to normalize relations.Egypt's Minister of Information Osama Heikal said he welcomed news of Turkey's decision to ban the channels, referring to it as "a good initiative."With that, projects such as the EastMed pipeline, which will likely run in parts of the eastern Mediterranean Sea that Turkey considers its territorial waters, have left it strategically isolated. Hence the orders to El-Sharq TV, Watan TV and Mekameleen channels to halt airing political shows critical of Egypt and to only air non-political shows and series.
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