Turan, a reporter for the state broadcaster Turkish Radio and Television Corporation, was detained while covering the security forces’ crackdown on supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi at Al-Fateh Mosque at Ramses Square, according to news reports
The day after his arrest, Turan was taken first to Egypt’s Tora prison in southern Cairo and then held at the Wadi El Natrun prison in northern Cairo. His pre-trial detention has been extended several times by the Egyptian prosecutor’s office, according to news reports.
No formal charges had been lodged against Turan in late 2013.
On September, 30, 2013, Turkey’s ambassador in Cairo, Huseyin Avni Botsali, said that his government was lobbying for Turan’s release, according to Anadolu news agency.
Since the ouster on July 3, 2013, the military-supported government detained dozens of local and international journalists. Most have been freed.
Turkey became a target of popular protests in Egypt for characterizing the military takeover that ousted Morsi as a coup, and the Turkish government has been critical of Egypt’s interim government. Turkish journalists have been subject to obstruction, detentions, and assaults. In a nationally televised speech on August 20, 2013, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Israel of plotting Morsi’s overthrow, news reports said.