Comedian Deniz Göktaş, held in pretrial detention for 88 days over jokes in his stand-up show, was sentenced to a total of one year, seven months and five days in prison for "insulting the president" and "degrading religious values." The court acquitted him of "praising a crime and a criminal" and ordered his release.
The first hearing in the trial of comedian Deniz Göktaş, charged with "insulting the president" (Article 299 of the Turkish Penal Code), "inciting the public to hatred and enmity or degrading" (Article 216) and "praising a crime and a criminal" (Article 215), was held Sept. 28 at the Istanbul 14th Criminal Court of First Instance. The court sentenced Göktaş to 11 months and 20 days in prison for "insulting the president" and, reclassifying the charge listed in the indictment as "inciting the public to hatred and enmity or degrading" as "degrading religious values," to seven months and 15 days. It acquitted him of "praising a crime and a criminal." Göktaş was released following the ruling, which the court announced after deliberating for about an hour and a half.
Journalists barred from the courtroom
Extraordinary security measures were taken at the courthouse ahead of the hearing. The area in front of the courtroom was sealed off with barriers, and journalists were not allowed inside, while police officers, lawyers and politicians were permitted past the barriers. The hearing started about an hour late after the vehicle bringing Göktaş from the Karatepe High Security Prison in the Çorlu district of Tekirdağ province was delayed by rain. Because a large number of lawyers wanted to observe the proceedings, a courtroom across the hall was opened, where the hearing was followed via the SEGBİS video-conferencing system. In the crowded, stuffy courtroom, the judge and the defense statements were at times inaudible because of heavy noise from outside. Göktaş was seated between three gendarmerie officers throughout the hearing.
"I have been kept in a cell for 88 days just for four sentences"
Göktaş, who said he had been held since July 3 in a cell without sunlight at a prison publicly known as a "well-type" facility, told the court: "I have been kept in a cell for 88 days just for four sentences. As a comedian, this makes me proud; it has strengthened my belief in my work. But as a citizen, it is saddening for freedom of expression in my country. My only fear is that my arrest will make other comedians afraid."
Göktaş said he had delivered the jokes at issue 198 times in his show "Ölü Deniz" ("Dead Sea") between October 2023 and June 2026, in front of more than 100,000 people, without receiving a single complaint. According to Göktaş, the charges emerged from a campaign launched by troll accounts on social media after the show was released on YouTube on June 24. He said the accounts that first targeted him over his joke about the president turned to religious topics when they failed to get the reaction they wanted, sharing his jokes out of context and launching a complaint campaign through CİMER, the presidential communications center.
Göktaş said he had examined each of the 185 CİMER complaints the prosecution cited as evidence that "public peace had been disturbed," stressing that only one complaint was filed in the first three days, when the show was most widely discussed, and that it concerned the president rather than religion. He added that two of the complaints called for his execution.
Göktaş also responded to claims that he had fled abroad. He said he visits friends abroad every year after his tour ends and that he had paid the fee for paid military service before leaving. He said he returned to Türkiye as soon as he learned of the investigation, and that the police officers who detained him at the airport asked him, "Deniz, why did you come back?" He said that although he turned himself in voluntarily, he was handcuffed behind his back and filmed.
Göktaş said that after his questioning by the prosecutor, he was forced to meet with former Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu in a courthouse hallway despite refusing three times. "As if being handcuffed behind my back was not enough, I was forced to meet with Kılıçdaroğlu," he said. "I could not even see my lawyers, yet I was forced to meet with him while handcuffed. I still wonder why."
Regarding his "shy dictator" joke, Göktaş argued that the word "dictator" is a political characterization, not an insult. Saying he grew up watching Levent Kırca and Ferhan Şensoy, whose far harsher political satire was not prosecuted at the time, Göktaş said the laws had not changed, but the rulers had. "It is your duty, the judiciary's duty, to protect comedians and artists against those in power who are disturbed by their jokes," he said. "If political humor is still not banned in this country, then my 'dictator' joke is not a crime either."
Addressing the charge over his joke about the haşema, a full-body modest swimsuit, Göktaş said the joke targeted prejudice against women who wear it, using a twist to confront the audience with its own bias, and that the indictment had turned the joke's meaning on its head.
Lawyer: "There was no tip-off, so why was a drug test done?"
Göktaş's lawyer, Metin Sinan Arslan, said practices violating the Constitution and the Code of Criminal Procedure had taken place during his client's detention. "A perp walk was staged to damage Göktaş's reputation," Arslan said. "Worse still, Deniz Göktaş was given a drug test. There was no tip-off, so why was a drug test done? After 88 days, there is still no result." Arslan also criticized the meeting between Göktaş and a politician during his questioning. "People are not even allowed to see their families at the prosecutor's office, so why, and for what purpose, was he made to meet with a politician?" he said.
Citing rulings by the Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights, Arslan noted that not a single complaint had been filed over 198 performances and that the case file contained only 185 CİMER complaints. He stressed that there are Court of Cassation rulings holding that public peace cannot be disturbed by CİMER complaints alone.
Prosecutor sought conviction
In the final opinion, the prosecutor read out Göktaş's "shy dictator" joke in full and argued that it went beyond the limits of criticism and constituted insult. The prosecutor claimed that his jokes about a fasting suicide bomber, religious books and the haşema "degraded the public's religious values," also citing the CİMER complaints. Arguing that a joke about the Daltons gang amounted to "praising a crime and a criminal," the prosecutor requested that Göktaş be convicted on all charges and released upon sentencing.
A lawyer authorized by Ahmet Özeri, the lawyer for complainant President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, requested to join the case as an intervening party and called for Göktaş to be convicted. Göktaş said he particularly rejected the charge over the haşema joke. Arslan said the defense did not accept the prosecutor's opinion and was grateful for the release request but sought an acquittal.
Released, then rearrested
Göktaş was arrested July 3. On the 57th day of his detention, the Istanbul 61st Criminal Court of First Instance ordered his release following an objection. On the same day, however, he was rearrested on a charge of "praising a crime and a criminal" over his Daltons joke in the same show, and he was subsequently rearrested on the other two charges as well.
