A Turkish court on Monday convicted popular comedian Deniz Göktaş over remarks in a stand-up performance but ordered his release after 88 days in custody, following a defense that repeatedly drew laughter in the courtroom.
The court gave Göktaş 11 months for insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. It changed an incitement charge to publicly insulting religious values and sentenced him to a further seven months. It acquitted him of praising crime and criminals.
The court ordered his release.
Göktaş, a 32-year-old comedian known for his dry wit and political satire, was arrested on July 3 after a YouTube video of his “Ölü Deniz” (“Dead Sea”) show went viral. He had faced charges of insulting Erdoğan, inciting public hatred and praising crime and criminals.
At the courthouse in İstanbul’s Çağlayan district, Göktaş defended his jokes with political satire and quick-witted observations that frequently had the courtroom laughing.
Prosecutors had singled out a line in which he called Erdoğan “a shy dictator,” but Göktaş insisted there was “no criminal element” in it.
“Dictator is not an insult: it is a political characterization,” he said.
“As the president and leader of the party that has ruled the country for 25 years, a political comedy show in which Erdoğan’s name is never mentioned would be neither sincere nor have any connection to reality,” he said.
“Erdoğan should be open to the art of satire,” he said, denying the charges against him.
Göktaş argued that comedians and political satirists had made similar criticisms in the past without being prosecuted.
“The laws protecting freedom of expression have not changed since that time. But today, a comedian is sitting in a cell.
“The joke hasn’t changed. What has changed is the increasingly fragile leadership that can no longer tolerate the joke.”
He told the court that humor was a centuries-old part of Turkish culture and that there should be “no place for censorship, bans or detention when it comes to artists on the stage.”
Rejecting the charges, he asked to be acquitted and released.
“Three months have been taken away from my life. I quit smoking, so I’ll add three months to the end of my life anyway,” he said, drawing laughter and applause as he left the stand.
The prosecutor asked the court to convict Göktaş on all three charges but also sought his release. The court convicted him on two counts, acquitted him on the third and ordered his release.
Among those watching the hearing were comedians from İstanbul’s TuzBiber comedy club, where Göktaş reportedly began his career in 2019, alongside observers from the Dutch embassy and US consulate.
Outside the courthouse, about 50 supporters gathered in the pouring rain, an Agence France-Presse correspondent saw.
“I am not afraid to do stand-up after his arrest, I will keep doing it. His arrest made me feel proud: his strong stance and the way he keeps making jokes from his prison cell keep me going,” 22-year-old aspiring comedian Fatih Yılmaz, who traveled from Alanya to attend the trial, told AFP.
Others protested the conditions in which Göktaş had been held at Karatepe high-security prison, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) west of İstanbul.
“I’m outraged that Deniz Göktaş is being held in a well-type cell just because he did his job,” retiree Nesrin Demirkan told AFP.
Göktaş’s prosecution comes amid broader concern over cases brought against artists, journalists and other critics of Turkey’s government for their speech.
This article is republished from Turkish Minute.
