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A Turkish court has ordered the detention of comedian Deniz Goktas pending trial on charges of insulting President Tayyip Erdogan and religious values. Goktas, known for his stand-up performances that garner millions of views online, was arrested at Istanbul airport on Monday while returning from a trip abroad.
"Deniz Goktas was arrested at Istanbul airport on July 2," the Istanbul prosecutor's office said in a statement, adding that it had received 185 complaints about the comedian's performances and that it had launched an investigation for publicly insulting Turkey's religious values.
According to foreign media, in his shows, the comedian takes a satirical look at the country's political developments, with references to President Erdogan and his main opponent, the imprisoned mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, whose arrest in March 2025 caused massive protests.
A stand-up comedy show he performed in Istanbul on June 1 was uploaded as a 90-minute video to YouTube on June 24 and has so far had nearly nine million views. The Istanbul Chief Prosecutor's Office announced earlier this week that it had launched an investigation into offensive language constituting a criminal offense in content shared by Göktas on social media.
Prosecutors said the investigation was related to allegations that Göktas insulted religious values during a stand-up performance in Istanbul on June 1, in which he made references to Erdogan, the Quran and Imamoglu. Insulting the president is among the charges against him, said the comedian's lawyer, Metin Aslan. Many members of Erdogan's ruling AK Party and advisers to the president have criticized Göktas, accusing him of mocking Erdogan and the Quran.
In a statement to police, the comedian denied the charges, saying his jokes were not an insult to religious values or the Quran, according to the Haberturk television network. He also said his reference to Erdogan as a dictator was a political statement and not an insult. After speculation that he had fled Turkey to avoid prosecution, Göktas said in a post earlier this week that he had traveled abroad for vacation and intended to return.
"I plan to spend many more years in Turkey and if there is a situation that requires my presence, I will return on the next flight," he wrote.
The Ankara-born comedian began his stand-up career in an Istanbul club in 2019. Since then, he has performed across Europe and the US.
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