Kurdish journalist Sinan Aygül was brutally attacked by armed bodyguards of the AKP mayor of Tatvan (Tetwan) and had to be hospitalized.

The attack was recorded by a camera.

The journalist has recently reported on corruption in the city administration, in particular the sale of public land. 

According to the governor of Bitlis (Bedlîs), the attackers were an employee of the city administration and a police officer. The governor's office stated that an investigation was launched and police officer Engin Kaplan was suspended in the wake of the attack. Mayor Geylani also felt compelled to comment and tweeted that he had nothing to do with the attack and that his bodyguard Yücel Baysali had been dismissed.

The AKP politician Geylani rules the district of Tatvan in the province of Bitlis like a mafia boss and employs party supporters in the administration. The head of the local AKP youth organisation, Murat Eren, is paid a monthly salary although he doesn't work in the town hall and never enters it. Sinan Aygül constantly denounces the prevailing corruption and was temporarily arrested at the end of last year.