Turkish comedian insults President Erdogan, suffers unexpected consequences

Deniz Göktaş has been detained for calling the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a dictator

A Turkish comedian has been arrested on charges of insulting Islam and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during one of his shows.

Deniz Goktas, who is 32-years-old, was held at Istanbul Airport yesterday over a set posted to YouTube last week.

Authorities say it involved “publicly insulting religious values” and insulting the president, which is a criminal offence under the Turkish Penal Code.

In the special, which has already garnered 9.4million views, Goktas took aim at politicians from all sides, but reportedly called Erdogan a “dictator.”

And of the Quran, the sacred religious book of Muslims, he said, “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…’”

The special is called Ölü Deniz, a pun because Ölü means “dead” and the comedian’s first name also means “sea” and was filmed with a giant likeness of the stand-up’s disembodied head on stage.

The Istanbul public prosecutors' office said it had received 185 complaints and that Goktas was under investigation for “publicly insulting religious values.”

Erdogan’s regime had already banned clips from Goktas's show on X for “national security and public order” reasons.

The arrest of Goktas comes as the authorities broaden their crackdown on anyone seen as critical of Türkiye’s conservative Islamic government or its values.

Deniz Goktas had been out of the country on holiday and was arrested on his return.