Comedian Deniz Göktaş has been arrested after being detained at Istanbul Airport upon his return from abroad. An investigation had been launched against him over remarks made during his stand-up show “Ölü Deniz” (“Dead Sea”), on charges of “insulting the President” and “inciting hatred and hostility or degrading the public.”
Göktaş stated that he has been performing this show in various cities across Turkey for the past three years. He said, “More than 100,000 people have watched this performance, and not a single complaint has been made by anyone claiming to have been offended by this particular section.”
Göktaş also stated that he did not insult the President, defending himself by saying: “I had no intention whatsoever of insulting the President. Throughout the performance, my treatment of such popular figures and ideologies is a humorous approach, just as I do with sociological issues concerning Turkey. I have no other purpose. I do not accept the accusations made against me.”
The arrest of Deniz Göktaş on various pretexts is unacceptable. Such arrests are intended to suppress freedom of expression and to intimidate the public.
Speaking outside the courthouse, Cem Yiğit Üzümoğlu, a member of the Executive Board of the Actors’ Union, said that they had gathered to stand in solidarity with their colleague Deniz Göktaş and to defend freedom of expression. Üzümoğlu stated: “Freedom of expression is a fundamental right guaranteed by the Constitution. It is our shared demand to live in a country where art, humor, and thought are not punished, and where words of criticism are not treated as crimes.”