Attack on Reporter Who Investigated Turkish Mayor Condemned

A protester outside the Turkish embassy in Berlin, Germany, May 2017. Photo: EPA/CLEMENS BILAN

On June 17, Aygul, who is also the chairperson of the Bitlis Association of Journalists, wrote on Twitter that security guards employed by the mayor of the eastern Turkish city of Tatvan, Mehmet Emin Geylani, physically assaulted him in the street.

As the assailants assaulted Aygul, they also threatened his life, warning him against reporting on the mayor. Aygul was hospitalised as a result of his injuries.

Two days before the assault, Aygul had raised allegations in a Twitter post about irregularities in a public tender for property sales involving the Tatvan municipality and mayor Geylani, and called for its cancellation.

A municipality worker and the mayor's personal police bodyguard of the mayor have been arrested. Geylani has reportedly denied any involvement in the attack and in any official corruption.

"While swift arrests seem positive, we call upon the authorities to thoroughly investigate this violent assault on media freedom and bring all those involved in it to justice. In the past we have observed perpetrators walking free multiple times," Gurkan Ozturan, coordinator of Media Freedom Rapid Response at the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom, told BIRN.

Biraz önce Tatvan'da belediye başkanı Mehmet Emin Geylaninin silahlı korumalarının saldırısına uğradım. Belediyeye ait araçtan inerek saldıran şahıslar arkamdan kafama vurduktan sonra küfredek "Bir daha başkan hakkında yazarsan geberirsin" diye tehditler ettiler. Tavan Devlet… pic.twitter.com/11Gi46Juzr

— Sinan Aygül (@sinanaygul) June 17, 2023

"Unless thorough investigations reveal the source of threats against free media,...