A Turkish court has blocked access to news reports about email correspondence involving the chief executive officer of a pro-government holding that appeared in a new US document release tied to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, according to EngelliWeb, a project that tracks online censorship in Turkey.
EngelliWeb said the İstanbul 8th Criminal Judgeship of Peace issued the order on Monday blocking access to reports about email correspondence of İhlas Holding CEO Ahmet Mücahit Ören in a decision citing “national security” and the “protection of public order.”
İhlas Holding, which owns media outlets and has close ties to the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has faced renewed scrutiny in Turkey after Ören’s emails were among the newly released “Epstein files,” a trove of investigative material published by the US Department of Justice.
The emails in question include a message in which Ören wrote in 2004 to Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s longtime associate, “Thank you so much. And I need to learn more from you to be naughtier..”
Tam olarak şuna gelmiş erişim engeli, paylaşmayın:
“And I need to learn more from you to be naughtier…” https://t.co/KmbJp1tFCq pic.twitter.com/B4haNYPTvX
— Esref Larsen (@esrefyedek) February 10, 2026
Ören has denied wrongdoing, saying the email was not sexual in nature and was related to business networking.
EngelliWeb is run by the Freedom of Expression Association, a Turkish civil society group that documents website blocks and other censorship decisions.
New Turkey investigation
The access block came as Turkish prosecutors in Ankara opened a new investigation into claims of Turkey links in the Epstein case.
The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office launched the inquiry on December 23, 2025, after Turhan Çömez, a lawmaker from the IYI (Good) Party, posted on X that newly released US documents alleged girls from Turkey were taken to Epstein’s island. Sources cited by Turkish media said prosecutors were reviewing Turkey-related sections of the roughly 3 million documents released by the US Justice Department and looking for evidence of suspects and possible links in Turkey.
The Ankara prosecutors’ move followed a separate earlier complaint filed by a Turkish nonprofit, the Önce Çocuklar ve Kadınlar Derneği, which focuses on children and women.
Prosecutors previously issued a decision of non-prosecution on June 16, 2025, saying the file contained no evidence that the alleged crimes were committed in Turkey.
In the earlier inquiry, prosecutors heard testimony from a woman identified as Banu K., who lives in the US and was named in the complaint. She said she had no connection to the Epstein case and was not the Banu K. referenced in the Epstein documents.
US release triggered global scrutiny
The Department of Justice said on January 30 it had published more than 3 million pages of investigative records tied to the Epstein case under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, along with 180,000 images and more than 2,000 videos compiled by federal and state law enforcement agencies.
The department said the files are heavily redacted to protect victims’ privacy and do not include new indictments or criminal charges, warning that some documents may not be electronically searchable because they are embedded in non-indexed PDF files.
The release has fueled scrutiny in multiple countries as journalists and the public sift through emails, travel references and contact networks.