Published on •Updated
“I think it’s (the Qur’an) the best of the four books; for one thing, it’s a bold statement in the 600s. It’s also very difficult for the author; if a new idea comes to mind, too bad, we’ve said, ‘This is the last book…'”
This was the joke that got a popular Turkish comedian, Deniz Goktas, arrested on arrival at Istanbul airport on Thursday for allegedly insulting Islam and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
It is not yet clear which part of his 90-minute stand-up performance, published on YouTube, constitutes an insult to the president of the republic, which is a criminal offence under Article 299 of the Turkish Penal Code. However, he openly called him a “dictator” who is finally “at peace with his desires”.
The recording of the show was released on June 24 and has since been viewed nearly nine million times, where Göktas took a satirical look at political developments in Turkey, and made fun of nearly all sides on the political spectrum, including Erdogan’s jailed rival, Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, whose arrest last year sparked mass street protests.
The arrest of Göktaş came as the authorities have broadened a crackdown on anyone seen as critical of Turkey’s Islamo-conservative government or its values, with mounting legal probes into musicians, artists, journalists and politicians among others.
“Deniz Göktaş was apprehended at Istanbul Airport on July 2,” the Istanbul public prosecutors’ office said in a statement.
It said it had received 185 complaints about a stand-up show and added he was under investigation for “publicly insulting religious values”.
Before his arrest, short clips from Göktaş’s show on the social media platform X were banned in Turkey for “national security and public order” reasons.
Several days later, prosecutors opened an investigation into the comedian, saying the show involved “offensive statements that constituted a criminal offence”.
Göktaş, who said on X that he was on holiday abroad at the time, flew back to Turkey on Thursday, knowing he would be arrested.
He is due to appear in court on Friday morning, his lawyer said.
Turkish media reported that the Ankara-born comedian began his stand-up career at Istanbul’s TuzBiber comedy club in 2019. He has since performed at venues across Europe and the US.