A Turkish court has sentenced comedian Deniz Goktas to 19 months and 10 days in prison for insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and religious values, but released him pending appeal.
According to AP, the 32-year-old comedian had been in custody since 3 July after clips from his stand-up show circulated online. In the routine, he called Erdogan a “dictator”.
Goktas defended the joke in court, saying he stood by his description of Erdogan as having evolved from a “shy dictator” into one “confident in his identity”. He argued that political satire was once tolerated in Turkey and said laws on insults had not changed.
“What has changed? Fragile leaders who can’t handle jokes or criticism,” he said, according to Birgun and other opposition-supporting media.
Goktas said none of his jokes had prompted complaints until clips were taken out of context and shared online. His Dead Sea show, recorded in Istanbul in June, drew more than 9.5 million YouTube views and 185 complaints through an Erdogan office reporting system.
He was arrested after returning from holiday and held at Karatepe high-security prison in Tekirdag.
Erdogan has ruled Turkey for more than two decades, amid criticism over restrictions on free expression. Critics also point to the imprisonment of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, Erdogan’s main political rival, and corruption prosecutions involving opposition figures. The government maintains that Turkey’s courts operate independently.
