Deniz Göktaş: A clean intellect resisting the filth of NATO

NATO is Turkey's catastrophe. It is a noose that the founding fathers—the CHP elite, and the DP was no different—tightened around Turkey's throat. We are suffering the consequences. It is a mechanism that paved the way for the end of the Republic. We shall see.

There is no mass protest. We are actually in a state of shameful acceptance. However, some positive signs have begun to emerge.

Even though the “liberal left,” protected by liberal rubble, tries to render invisible the young communists, socialists, and even Kemalists who break bans, there is a protest tending to grow.

Its reflection on the streets was important. And it is reflecting...

The place we want to arrive at is different. And so are our questions...

DENİZ GÖKTAŞ: AS IF A FOUNDING WILL

Is it the possibilities of the Turkish language? Or the fact that even the peaks, the great masters of the past, are rapidly aged over time—that is, as a result of changes in space?

Both...

The world and history are like that. Let us look from the field we might call humor or satire. Do you remember the unreachable giants of the 1960s and 1970s? Was Aziz Nesin not aged? That aside, even a unique stream of humor that could appeal to large masses like Gırgır and Oğuz Aral was aged. We encounter the same fate with Turhan Selçuk, a world-class master of drawing, and his protagonist Abdülcanbaz. It is normal.

Although it would be unfair to say that these masters have been surpassed and belong in a museum. But some steps are being taken. The old ones are being forgotten. Because the space is changing. Another wind seems to have started to blow.

Deniz Göktaş is also such a “phenomenon.”

We cannot guarantee what comes after, of course, but we are currently facing an intellectual stance. And not just that...

This: We have faced a cleansing “inside” and even “outside.” Aside from other issues, we have witnessed a charming young man, who performs one-man shows and forces his audience to make an effort with the subtle jokes hidden between the lines, suddenly rendering the “sovereign and opportunistic” old humor—let us call it the Cem Yılmaz-Yılmaz Erdoğan school—obsolete. Even burying it...

With this stance, Deniz Göktaş has simultaneously deciphered both the humor of his predecessors and their risk-aversion and conformism, without saying a single “bad word” about them. With his decision not to leave our magical prison, Turkey... He has not only rendered the risk-aversion and wealth of Cem Yılmaz and Yılmaz Erdoğan futile, but more importantly, he has also undermined the risk-averse ones who have settled in Germany/Europe and market democracy lessons from there. Let us suffice to add that these latter ones are “democracy militants” who have made political opposition a profession; that is, they do not actually perform stand-up themselves.

SIMILARITIES...

Deniz Göktaş’s ability to return to our magical prison, Turkey, without blinking—regardless of what he says or where he turns from here on—reminded me of a Yalçın Küçük, whose documentary and comprehensive book about him we are waiting to be published these days, and that resistance and depth.

Is it that they are both from METU (ODTÜ)? Perhaps...

It runs in the blood... Progressivism is also a kind of lineage, after all. It carries social genes from generation to generation...

Again: This young man’s emergence has wiped out all the stand-up comedians so far. The ones in the most difficult situation were the Cem Yılmaz and Yılmaz Erdoğan teams... They are, of course, unaware of anything. Their arrogance does not allow it. But it is understood that they will not be able to take the stage as they have until now. Their reputations have been shattered. They have not yet realized it.

Deniz is now a slap in the face of the “democrats” who find their solution in Europe.

This is a Yalçın Küçük trajectory, who rejected all offers made to him to go to Europe after March 12 and September 12. Such feelings are truly contagious. They are transmitted from generation to generation.

A LESSON TO “GERMAN CABARET” AS WELL...

Ultimately, we can evaluate what is happening in reverse by saying “it cooks in Turkey and falls into Germany”: This is an emergence that puts the kibosh on the “local sector militants” who act quite critically in the language (German) and the country (Germany, Austria, and a bit of Switzerland) where cabaret is almost established and institutionalized.

This is the main point we want to reach: We keep writing that “for at least 50 years, Turkey has been left to Germany’s charge within the imperialist world system with its economic, demographic, military, political, cultural, and moral ties.” Even if it is not admitted much, it is like this.

Of course, we cannot say that these relations are only from the imperialist center toward the dependent “periphery.”

There is also a line from the poor to the rich.

A cultural, linguistic line, for example...

Young Deniz’s emergence cannot be limited to Turkey. We will soon see its shadow, or rather its light, even in Germany, which is famous for its cabaret.

Today, we can say that the sharp intellect in the German cabaret world, which lacks an anti-systemic ferocity, is represented by artists of Turkish, Middle Eastern, and African origin. We can provide a small and quite incomplete temporary list of people with Turkish connections who reach society through microphones and/or jokes on stage:

Bülent Ceylan, Kaya Yanar, Django Asül, Fatih Çevikkollu, Şinasi Dikmen, Muhsin Omurca, Meltem Kaptan, İdil Baydar, Aydın Işık, Özcan Coşar, Şenay Duzcu, Tan Çağlar, Serhat Doğan, Sertaç Mutlu, Kadir Zeyrek, Osan Yaran, Filiz Tasdan, Serdar Nalçakar, Murat Topal, Kerim Pamuk, Özgür Cebe, Aylin Lefkeli, Serdar Karibik, Cüneyt Akan, Tahsim Durgun, Özgür Turhan...

However, in this incomplete list, or among the “biological German” stand-up artists who take the stage, there is no young cabaret artist or stand-up comedian who has been able to get 11 million views on YouTube in 10 days without the support of any television station. There is no old one either. There is none among those who receive mainstream media support. Even Lisa Eckhart, the star of the recent period, famous for her provocative image and for easily violating all moral boundaries, can only dream of these numbers.

Has “İmran Deniz Göktaş” not exposed all the stand-up comedians, starting with the most famous ones among us and the very democratic Europeans? Perhaps we are facing a situation far beyond his own intention. Deniz is still at the beginning of his journey; it is understood that he will likely make a “lateral transition” to cinema and writing from here. He cannot stay here. His intellectual energy will not allow it. We shall see...

But this: When we look from Germany, which is considered one of the birthplaces of cabaret, where he became famous in Europe’s democracy, has he not also stripped away the makeup of those celebrities? We are talking about cabaret artists with roots in Turkey who have made a name for themselves within Germany, this most important external imperial center for Turkey.

Deniz’s decision to return to the magical prison must have annoyed the dissidents who seek their bread in imperialist democracies.

We have come to our NATO plague. We are at a stage where young TKP members are breaking bans on the streets and inevitably triggering the socialist left. The gathering and recovery of the socialist left and other progressive movements is not far off.

We are in the time of new Denizes...

Laughter is a revolutionary act. NATO and its religious/nationalist servants were, of course, going to be afraid of this...