Deniz Göktaş detained for calling the president a dictator

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

Deniz Göktaş, 32, 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 – a criminal offence under the Turkish Penal Code.

In the special, which has already racked up 9.4million views, Göktaş took aim at politicians from all sides, but reportedly called  Erdogan a ‘dictator’.

And of the Koran, 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 Göktaş was under investigation for ‘publicly insulting religious values’.

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

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

Last week, Amnesty International called for the release of more than 100 people – including lawyers, academics and activists – imprisoned ahead of the Nato summit taking place in Ankara next week. The human rights charity called a pre-summit ban on protests ‘an excessive and unjustifiable attack on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and expression’.

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

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Published: 3 Jul 2026