Egypt blocks English versions of two Turkish newspapers

CAIRO – 19 June 2017: English versions of the Turkish Hürriyet Daily News and Daily Sabah, were blocked in Egypt, Al-Shorouq reported on Monday.

Users said they cannot access the English version of Hürriyet Daily News and Daily Sabah.

“Hürriyet Daily News belongs to the independent Dugan group and is somewhat opposed to the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan while the Daily Sabah is strongly pro-Erdogan,” Al-Shorouq stated.

On May 22, the government blocked 21 websites including Al Jazeera, accusing the websites of supporting terrorism and deliberately spreading lies. The state also blocked independent Egyptian news websites such as Daily News Egypt and Mada Masr.

Al Jazeera and several Qatari news websites, such as Al-Arab and Al-Watan, have also been blocked in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, in addition to the Rassd News Network. The action by Gulf states comes after a statement attributed to Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani attacked them.

Egypt, the UAE and Saudi Arabia have banned Al Jazeera on their airwaves and closed the channel's offices in their countries.