Comedian arrested for insulting Islam and Erdogan during repression in Türkiye

Comedian Deniz Göktaş was arrested by an Istanbul court after being detained at the city’s main airport for a performance that attracted 9.4 million views on YouTube.

Göktaş is accused of “inciting hatred and hostility” in his stage performance, as well as insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

He is the latest artist to be hit by a crackdown on dissent in Türkiye that has also targeted activists, journalists and other public figures.

In recent weeks, access to the social media accounts of many LGBT+ organizations and activists has been blocked, while more than 200 people have been arrested in the run-up to next week’s NATO leaders’ summit in the capital Ankara.

Tens of thousands of security officers are being deployed for the July 7-8 summit hosted by Erdogan, where US President Donald Trump will meet his European counterparts and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky.

Last month, journalists, lawyers, academics, trade unionists, environmental activists and LGBT activists were arrested.

Authorities have banned protests in Ankara until July 10 and independent Turkish media have complained of being denied accreditation for the summit. NATO said it relied on the host nation to guarantee access but was in contact with the Turkish authorities.

Among those arrested in late June were volunteers from one of Turkey’s best-known environmental organizations, the Tema Foundation. Tema said many of those arrested were retirees returning from a wilderness trip and most were later released.

Deniz Göktaş was arrested while returning from vacation in Istanbul, and images of the artist being taken away with his hands handcuffed behind his back immediately sparked criticism from his supporters.

After the comedian was questioned by prosecutors at the Çağlayan courthouse in Istanbul on Friday, the court accepted his request for pre-trial detention on charges of insulting the president and publicly denigrating religious values.

The Istanbul General Prosecutor’s Office said authorities had received 185 complaints about Göktaş’s video.

Turkey’s Directorate of Religious Affairs mentioned the stand-up show, without naming Göktaş, in its weekly Friday sermon, read in all the country’s mosques. The supreme mufti’s office complained that the use of digital platforms “and the occasional mockery of our sacred values ​​under the guise of humor are alienating our children from our values ​​day after day.”

In his statement to the prosecutor, Göktaş said he had absolutely no intention of offending anyone religious.

He also denied insulting the president, insisting that he had been performing the show in various Turkish cities for almost three years and that his use of the word “dictator” was a widely debated topic in Turkey.

His video was recorded on June 1 in Istanbul’s most famous open-air performance hall and released on YouTube on June 24.

“Over 100,000 people have watched this show, and no complaints have been made by anyone saying they were offended by this particular section,” he said.

Critics see Göktaş’s detention as part of a broader trend in Türkiye targeting public figures. Human Rights Watch warned of “wide-ranging restrictions on the main opposition political party, the media, and freedom of expression in general.”

Erdogan’s biggest political rival, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu, has been in prison for more than a year and was tried last March on numerous charges, including corruption.

Imamoğlu’s opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) faced a broader crackdown, which the CHP condemned as a “judicial coup” against Turkish democracy.

In May, an Ankara court removed the entire CHP leadership, including President Özgür Özel, and replaced him with party veteran Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, who lost to Erdogan in the last presidential election.

A crowd gathered at the Çağlayan courthouse in Istanbul on Friday in support of the arrested comedian, and chants of “traitor” were heard inside the courthouse as Kılıçdaroğlu arrived.

Kılıçdaroğlu criticized the arrest at Göktaş airport in handcuffs, saying he should be released. However, opposition supporters view his reinstatement as CHP leader as an official attempt to neutralize the party.

The demonstrators also blamed the 77-year-old man in part for the young people targeted by the authorities.

The Association of Media and Law Studies, a free speech watchdog, said Göktaş faced prison “for telling jokes”, and stressed that satire was protected by the Turkish constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights.