Turkish authorities have blocked access to news reports detailing lucrative commercial ties between the family of a high-profile political defector and Turkey’s state-promoted electric vehicle (EV) producer Togg, the EngelliWeb initiative (@engelliweb), a project of Turkey’s Freedom of Expression Association, has reported.

Access to articles concerning JMW Jant, a subsidiary of Aydin-based wheel manufacturer Jantsa (Istanbul/JANTS), was restricted under Article 8/A of Turkey’s Law No. 5651. The law allows judges to censor content on grounds of "national security and the protection of public order".

The suppressed reporting told how JMW Jant was selected as a primary wheel supplier for Togg’s latest vehicle programme. The regulatory disclosure filed on September 9 by parent company Jantsa, meanwhile, remains available on the public disclosure platform (KAP).

“JMW Jant Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S., our subsidiary, has been selected as a supplier for the development, validation and mass production processes under a new vehicle programme carried out by Turkiye'nin Otomobili Girisim Grubu Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S. (Togg),” the statement reads.

Jantsa counts Ercan Cercioglu, its deputy chairman and general manager, as a member of its founding family. He is married to Ozlem Cercioglu, mayor of the Aegean province of Aydin.

In August 2025, she resigned from the Republican People’s Party (CHP) and joined President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

Following her move, then CHP chair Ozgur Ozel, who was in May ousted from his post by a court order, claimed that Erdogan offered Cercioglu the options of joining the AKP or going to jail.

Jantsa had a 49.99% stake in JMW Jant, a JV launched in 2011 with Italy’s CLN Group. Following media reports on Ozlem Cercioglu, the Italians left the JV and Jantsa currently controls a full stake in JMW Jant.

JMW Jant has an annual wheel rim production capacity of 714,000 units for passenger cars and light commercial vehicles (LCVs).

Turkey’s internet regulation framework, particularly Law No. 5651, has drawn frequent criticism from human rights groups and European bodies, who argue that it is routinely deployed to silence critical journalism and suppress public scrutiny of financial arrangements involving political elites.

Jantsa, launched in 1977 by Sefik Cercioglu, listed a 23% stake on Borsa Istanbul in 2012. It turned to profit in 2Q26 after posting consecutive losses in previous quarters.

In December, the company denied media reports suggesting that it had received investment incentives after Ozlem Cercioglu defected to the AKP.