Balkan Media Slam Egypt's Raid On Anadolu Agency Office

Criticism of Egypt's recent raid on Anadolu Agency's office in Cairo poured from local media across the Balkans on Thursday, with many describing the incident as an attempt to gag the freedom of the press.

Egyptian police raided the Cairo bureau of Anadolu Agency late Tuesday and detained four employees.

Serbia's public news agency Tanjug, as well as B92, Danas and many more other private news outlets castigated Egypt's action against the journalists.

The issue was also covered by Bosnia's state-run new agency Fena and one of the country's most popular newspapers, Oslobodjenje.

The North Macedonian-based Albanian-language Shenja TV as well as Top Channel -- one of Albania's leading TV networks -- reported on the raid, as did Kosovo-based daily Blic and Macedonian newspaper Nova Makedonija, which is one of the oldest newspapers in North Macedonia.

The regional N1 TV network and Aj Balkans also covered the story.

The staff members, including one Turkish citizen, were taken to an unknown location.

Egyptian authorities are yet to announce a reason for the raid.

Turkey strongly condemned the move and called for the immediate release of Anadolu Agency's staff members. -