July 3 (THEWILL) — Turkish stand-up comedian, Deniz Göktaş has been arrested after making jokes about Islam in his viral YouTube comedy special.
The 32-year-old was detained at Istanbul Airport on Thursday, July 2, after returning from a holiday abroad. He is being investigated for allegedly “publicly insulting religious values” and for insulting Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
The investigation followed the release of Göktaş’s 90-minute stand-up special, “Ölü Deniz (Dead Sea)”, which has attracted nearly nine million views on YouTube.
Authorities said they received 185 complaints about the show, while clips from the performance were blocked on X in Turkey.
One of the jokes that sparked the investigation was about the Quran. Göktaş said:
“The first three books were good, but the translation was weak in the fourth. I think it (the Qur’an) was the best of the four books. It was an ambitious debut in the 600s. It must have been hard for the writer, too. If a new idea came to his mind, he had already said, ‘the last book.'”
The comedy special also included political jokes, with Göktaş referring to President Erdoğan as a “dictator.”
Göktaş is expected to appear in court following his arrest.
His detention comes as rights groups continue to raise concerns about freedom of expression in Turkey, where several comedians, journalists and artists have faced investigations or prosecution over their work.
Evi Ben Ezaga writes on entertainment, culture, and trending stories.
