Turkey's 'Dictator' problem!..

Young comedian Deniz Göktaş has joined the caravan of those facing lynching followed by arrest. I watched 5-10 minutes of his stand-up show titled "Dead Sea," where he is accused of "publicly insulting the religious values adopted by a segment of the public." To be honest, as someone who watched heavyweight political satire shows during the eras of Kenan Evren, Demirel, Ecevit, Erdal İnönü, Yıldırım Akbulut, and Tansu Çiller, I didn't find it interesting, partly because I don't quite understand the new generation's sense of humor. With the country and the nation facing such burning issues, it was obvious that someone, with a "we hold the power" attitude, was once again saying, "look at the acrobat, look at the acrobat."

Since I didn't watch the whole thing, I don't know according to whom and how "religious values were insulted," but it is worth noting the following:

In which period of the country did the gap between rhetoric and action widen so much that religious values became such a subject of debate?.. Isn't that why even Cübbeli Ahmet said, "Atheists and deists have started to emerge from Imam Hatip schools and theology faculties"?!

Returning to 32-year-old Deniz Göktaş; he came from abroad even though it was clear from the campaign being waged that he would be arrested. But the prosecutor's office announced that he had been "captured," and he was even handcuffed behind his back.

Just 3-5 days ago, we saw what happens when a figure who was applauded by the ruling camp while making below-the-belt attacks on opposition figures for months, gets touched by them just a little bit, right? The prosecutor's office carefully emphasized that "he came and surrendered himself from abroad," and he was released on the same day after giving his statement via SEGBİS.

After being "captured," a charge of "insulting the President" was added to Deniz Göktaş's file. Naturally, the indispensable condition for an arrest to take place!..

The Ministry of Justice's information note included this interesting detail:

"The 185 CİMER applications submitted to the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office regarding stand-up artist İmran Deniz Göktaş were evaluated collectively as they concerned the same subject; an ex officio investigation was initiated against the individual in question within the scope of the crime of 'publicly insulting the religious values adopted by a segment of the public.'"

It is said that 100,000 people watched that show, which has been performed for 3 years, live, and millions shared it on YouTube; but only 185 complaints went to CİMER!..

He Said "Dictator"

In his interrogation, regarding the accusation of "insulting religious values," Deniz Göktaş explained that he absolutely had no such intention, and that throughout his show, he spoke not only about religious people but about all kinds of political views or popular figures.

As for the accusation of insulting the President, he was asked about the term "dictator"; he replied, "I have no intention of insulting the President in any way. The word dictator is a political characterization and is a subject frequently discussed in public. It is just a word like democrat or autocrat; it is a humorous approach, just as I do throughout the show regarding sociological events in Turkey, popular figures, and ideologies; I have no other purpose."

Erdoğan: "I Don't Care If They Call Me a Dictator"

Well, hadn't we already overcome this "dictator" problem in a political sense with Erdoğan's own approach, and legally with court rulings?

If we refresh our memories;

When Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, whom they are very fond of these days, made the "dictator" accusation, Erdoğan warned him by pointing at him, saying, "There are those who sit across from me and call me a dictator. Tayyip Erdoğan will be a dictator and you will be walking around in the squares." Again, when he gave borrowed deputies to the IYI Party to form a group in Parliament, he said, "Those who want to see a dictator in this country should look at those who forced 15 deputies to change parties overnight using methods that are products of political engineering."

To the Finnish journalist who asked, "The public is afraid of you. It is being said in your country that you are a dictator. Are you a dictator?" he replied, "You probably couldn't ask such a question in a country where there is a dictator. In a country where there is a dictator, you wouldn't see unlimited insults directed at the prime minister and president of that country, including their families. Turkey is a country where freedoms are experienced without limits. I claim that we compete with European Union member countries. Written and social media... I face all kinds of insults, including my family, my wife, and my children. We have endured this with patience over a 13-year period."

He did not take the criticisms coming from the West seriously, saying, "If they want to, let them call me a dictator, I don't care. It goes in one ear and out the other," and "As long as you call me a dictator, I will continue to call you 'fascist, nazi.'"

Erdoğan was also the one who underlined that he was not a "dictator" with the expressions, "Who is the dictator? There are 90 parties, 20 are entering the election. What kind of dictator is this that they will curse every day from their newspapers and televisions? If I were a dictator, you would curse, huh, you would insult, huh? You can't do this in a country where there is a dictator. They would finish the guy off instantly."

As for the legal part of this accusation; we have seen that almost all of the cases filed resulted in acquittal.

There was one in particular; while the judge ruled for acquittal without even seeing the need to take the defendants' defense, he noted the following:

"Regarding the country's past 15 years; the defendants, who are in their twenties and still students, wanted to express their lack of affection and political opposition toward the politician who has been effective as a political party founder, party chairman, member of parliament, prime minister with the party receiving more than 40 percent of the vote, and as the first president elected by the public and in the first round of elections with 52 percent of the vote personally, and they wanted to explain these intentions through a political concept like 'dictator,' the word 'dictator' is defined in the Great Turkish Dictionary as 'someone who has gathered all political powers in themselves,' and the content of the defendants' banner text carries no other meaning than being a debatable political criticism..."

In short; why does our judiciary conclude "insulting the President" from an expression that does not mean insult and which Erdoğan does not even "care" about?!..

Müyesser YILDIZ

July 4, 2026