After jokes about Erdoğan: 19 months in prison for satirist

The well-known comedian Deniz Göktaş was sentenced to 19 months in prison in Istanbul on Monday. His crime: jokes about President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and alleged denigration of religious values.

Deniz Göktaş does a one-man satire show in which he makes fun of God and the world. He is an institution in Turkey, a video of his last show was viewed millions of times. Throughout his career, he had made fun of long-time President Erdoğan from time to time - but the success of his last video was apparently too much for the president.

Erdoğan's lawyers complained that he had called him a "dictator," which was defamatory and no longer covered by the freedom of expression permitted in Turkey. He also made fun of women in Islamic full-body swimsuits - that's not acceptable and is a denigration of religious values.

In fact, Göktaş's satirical show had become more political this year, while Erdoğan's restrictions on freedom of expression became more drastic during this period. A number of journalists were arrested before Göktaş. That's why, he later said, he wasn't particularly surprised when he was arrested at the airport in Istanbul at the beginning of July when he returned from a vacation. The police officers who arrested him were said to have been surprised that he had come back at all. But he doesn't believe in leaving the country; you have to get involved in Turkey.

As expected, the investigating judge issued an arrest warrant at his post-arrest hearing and he ended up in Karatepe High Security Prison. After an arrest appeal was initially successful, he was immediately arrested again and accused of glorifying a criminal gang. That's why he spent three months in custody until his court hearing on Monday, from where he occasionally made his usual cheeky comments about X.

In his defense speech before the court, he then said: Yes, he called Erdoğan a dictator, but if he had called him a democrat, that would probably have gotten a bigger laugh.

The judge then sentenced him to eleven months in prison for insulting the president and a further seven months for insulting religion. He was acquitted of glorifying a criminal gang. But the most important thing was that the court lifted the detention and Deniz Göktaş was able to leave the Palace of Justice in Istanbul in freedom - initially. It could be years before an appeals court rules again on his insults.

A number of his supporters in the courtroom and outside on the demonstration site in front of the building were happy that Deniz Göktaş was released again after three months in custody. But that could quickly change again after his next appearance.

In today's Turkey, political satire, both in printed satirical magazines - of which there were quite a few until a few years ago - and on stage is almost a sure ticket to jail. That's why the majority of Turkish satirists have now fallen silent or are abroad. As long as Erdoğan is in power, nothing will change.