Stand-up comedian Deniz Göktaş uploaded, the show he performed to a 5000-people audience in Istanbul, “Ölü Deniz” [The Dead Sea/ Deniz], to YouTube on the 25th of June. He was arrested a week later, on the 2nd of July. He was first accused of blasphemy, and then of insulting the president. He has since been detained in the high security prison of Karatepe. This facility is called a “well-type” prison because its high walls don’t let the sunlight inside the prison. The show is still up on YouTube and has reached over 12 million views.
7th of July 2026,
High Security Prison of Karatepe, Çorlu
Hello to everyone from the High Security Prison of Karatepe. To those who may worry, I can whole-heartedly say that I’m feeling good. In the following days, I might still stay “I’m good” even if it’s not true, just not to lose face. In that case, I’ll add a winky face emoji.
This is proving to be a very nostalgic experience for many reasons. I’m watching TV for the first time in years, and I’m using alaturka toilets.1 With the world cup added to the mix, I’ve turned into the Child Deniz who ran home from school in order to catch the game back in 2002. Although, the pleasure’s not the same without chubby Ronaldo. By the way, the adverts are a real pain now. It made me consider addressing a request to the canteen for an AdBlock. […] You might think I’m being a bootlicker but it turns out that TRT2 [government channel] is really good. As I haven’t been able to receive my medication yet, Kiarostami’s Taste of Cherry has once again come to my rescue to the same effect of an antidepressant. The food is the same as ODTÜ’s [Middle East Technical University, Ankara] canteen. Outside, I would eat 1.5 meals, here I eat 3 to make time go by. I’ve started brushing my teeth twice a day, again, to make time pass. I also heard to alaturka toilets were more hygenic. Even if it’s not the case, don’t tell me about it until I leave. I want to keep enjoying my motivated poops.
As you know, even though I came willingly, they decided to handcuff me behind the back. They did it by force, against my consent. My glorious resistance lasted about 4 seconds. The police are twice my size, what can I do ? Then, someone at the station must have said “actually, we should create some social media content” ; just like an influencer exclaiming “wait a second it, hold it like this” right before taking a photo of the dinner table, they took videos of me rear-handcuffed from all angles ; front, back, sides. Because I managed to find the cameraman each time and smiled at him, they could only share the far-back angle.
A constructive criticism : The Vatan [Motherland] Police Station is crumbling. The workers were fainting from the heat. The air conditioning dates back to the Ottoman Era, and they don’t even turn it on. Only in the chief’s office is there brand new air conditioning. These officers are acting like bad cops to people who have caused them no harm, and who they may even have sympathy for just to please you. It must be a heavy emotional burden ; I wouldn’t do it even if they were to buy me a house. The least you could to is install air conditioning for them. […]
Before I boarded the plane, the last thing I saw during my last minutes on the internet was superficial psychological analyses such as “Poor guy, he’s getting into all this trouble just to win his family over!” Aside from my mother’s laments after breaking a statue at an Airbnb and my dad being a really good dad, everything I talked about was made up. Imaginary conflicts I invented in order to write jokes. The people and institutions mentioned are not real. It’s a humorous approach. Sorry, I’ve become accustomed to court talk; please, don’t make me explain my jokes as well.2
All my life, they have both been my closest friends. They’ve never pressured me on anything, never expected anything from me and have even hung up the stickman drawings I mad. They are just as protective and worried as any parents. They are as cliché as any other parents, telling me “If only you worked as a psychologist, you can do stand up in your free time” after my first show in Harbiye [one of Istanbul’s biggest venues] in 2023; they overestimate their son just as any other parents, saying “Couldn’t you do it in English abroad?” They stand behind each and every ridiculous choice I make eve if they don’t agree. I know it’s the case with this show and I send them both kisses in your presence.
When I published this show, I wasn’t expecting a response and I never once felt brave. For the last 7 years, I have lived a wonderful life. As someone who was introverted, pessimistic to death and complained about everything until I was 25 ; I would have been happy to do stand-up as a hobby in front of a 25-people audience, yet I laughed along with thousands of people in hundreds of shows, I made hundreds of new friends, I felt surrounded and filled with love. On top of that, I made way more money than I need.
As a person who claims to do “political comedy,” I got tired of erasing even the most harmless sentences, beating around the bush worriedly thinking “would they misunderstand this?”, “would they manipulate this part in order to attack me?” while young people are getting into all this trouble to defend their universities or the rights of mayors they don’t even particularly agree with. I got so tired of it that this feeling surpassed my sense of fear which was rather high.
The seventy year-old lady that excitedly waved at me when she saw me at the hospital I was taken to for a drug test has turned this personal distress into a satisfaction beyond my imagination. I was expecting the case would be that “I got into trouble because people didn’t get me” when in fact, “I got into trouble because people did get me.” WIN-WIN.
My love goes out to everyone who has a basic understanding of Turkish, has embraced the show and stood in solidarity. I’ve stopped following the news, my mind is made up this time I’ll finish Moby Dick. Good luck to you out there.