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Turkey Blocks Saudi and UAE News Websites

Reuters

   ISTANBUL - Turkish authorities blocked Saudi and United Arab Emirates
   news websites on Sunday, days after the sites of Turkey's state
   broadcaster and news agency were blocked in Saudi Arabia.

   The apparently reciprocal moves come four weeks after Turkish
   prosecutors indicted 20 Saudis over the killing of journalist Jamal
   Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, a killing that soured
   relations between Ankara and Riyadh.

   Internet users in Turkey trying to access the sites of Saudi news
   agency SPA, the UAE's WAM news agency and more than a dozen other sites
   saw a message saying that they were blocked under a law governing
   internet publications in Turkey.

   A spokesman at Turkey's Justice Ministry declined to comment on the
   actions and Saudi Arabia's government media office did not immediately
   respond to a Reuters request for comment.

   The Turkish website of the U.K.-based Independent newspaper, which is
   operated by a Saudi company, was one of the sites to blocked on Sunday,
   in a move that its editor said reflected political tensions between
   Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

   "We believe the tensions between Saudi Arabia and Turkey reflected on
   us," editor Nevzat Cicek told Reuters. Sunday's decision appeared to be
   "retaliation against Saudi Arabia," he said.

   Saudi Arabia had blocked access to several Turkish media websites a
   week earlier, including state broadcaster TRT and the state-owned
   Anadolu agency. Residents in the United Arab Emirates, a close ally of
   Saudi Arabia, said the Turkish websites were accessible on Sunday.

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