One of four Anadolu Agency employees detained in Egypt released

Duvar English

One of four employees of Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency detained in a raid by security forces in Egypt has been released, the company's general manager said on Jan. 16.

"Hilmi Balcı, one of our four employees detained in Egypt, has been released. We expect the others to be released on bail," general manager Şenol Kazancı was quoted as saying by Anadolu Agency.

Balcı is the only Turkish citizen among those who were detained, the agency said, without specifying the nationalities of the others.

The whereabouts of remaining three detainees remain unknown.

On Jan. 14 evening, Egyptian police raided the Cairo office of Anadolu Agency and detained four employees, including Balcı.

The reason behind the detentions remain unknown since Egyptian authorities don't share any information with the agency's lawyers, Anadolu Agency's Deputy General Manager Metin Mutanoğlu said on Jan. 15.

The agency said that police teams shut down security cameras and cut off internet access in the office while they were carrying out searches in the building, as well as seizing passports, cell phones and computers of the employees.

Turkey's Foreign Ministry later condemned the incident, saying that Ankara expects the agency's employees to be released.

"This is an act of harassment and intimidation against Turkish press and we strongly condemn it," the ministry's statement read, adding that the raid and detentions show the calamity of the issues of democracy and transparency in Egypt.

It also slammed Western countries "who seem to be sensitive about press freedom and freedom of expression" for overlooking the violations in Egypt.

Turkey's Cairo Charge D'Affaires Kemalettin Eruygur is following the developments closely, the agency said.

Egypt's Charge D'Affaires in Ankara was summoned to the Foreign Ministry on Jan. 15.

Egypt's interior ministry has confirmed the raid and detentions, saying the location - which it said was a flat - had been used to produce false and "negative" information.

It accused Turkey and the banned Muslim Brotherhood of being behind "adverse activity" at the flat.

Ankara's relations with Cairo have been frosty since the Egyptian army ousted Muslim Brotherhood president Mohammed Mursi, an ally of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in 2013. The two countries have also been at odds over maritime jurisdiction and offshore resources in the eastern Mediterranean.