A popular Turkish comedian went on trial on Monday for allegedly insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other offences during a stand-up performance, offering a quick-witted defence that had much of the courtroom in stitches.
Deniz Goktas, a 32-year-old comedian known for his dry wit and political satire, was arrested by police on July 3, a week after a YouTube video of his "Dead Sea" show went viral with nine million views.
He is facing charges of insulting Erdogan, incitement to public hatred and praising crime and criminals. If convicted, he could face around a decade behind bars, according to Turkish media calculations.
As the hearing opened at Caglayan courthouse, Goktas -- who has spent 88 days in custody -- took to the stand to weave a defence rich in political satire, with witty observations that frequently had the courtroom in fits of laugher.
In the indictment, prosecutors singled out a line in which he called Erdogan "a shy dictator", but Goktas insisted there was "no criminal element" there.
"Dictator is not an insult: it is a political characterisation," he said.
"As the president and leader of the party that has ruled the country for 25 years, a political comedy show in which Erdogan's name is never mentioned would be neither sincere nor have any connection to reality," he said.
"Erdogan should be open to the art of satire," he said, denying the charges against him.
None of Turkey's most famous comedians or political satirists had been prosecuted in the past, when "these kinds of criticisms were received much more positively... by society and those in power than they are today.
"The laws protecting freedom of expression have not changed since that time. But today, a comedian is sitting in a cell.
"The joke hasn’t changed. What has changed is the increasingly fragile leadership that can no longer tolerate the joke."
Among the audience were several comedians from Istanbul's TuzBiber comedy club -- where Goktas reportedly began his career in 2019 -- alongside observers from the Dutch and US embassies.
Humour, Goktas told the court, was a centuries-old part of Turkish culture but there should be "no place for censorship, bans or detention when it comes to artists on the stage".
Rejecting the charges against him, he asked to acquitted and released.
"Three months have been taken away from my life. I quit smoking, so I'll add three months to the end of my life anyway," he said, drawing laughter and loud applause as he left the stand.
Goktas's arrest was the latest in a widening crackdown on anyone seen as critical of Turkey's Islamo-conservative government or its values.
The crackdown has netted hundreds of people, including politicians, artists, musicians, journalists and LGBTQ activists.
Outside in the pouring rain, around 50 protesters gathered, chanting: "Denis Goktas is not alone!", an AFP correspondent saw.
One was a student who came from Alanya near the southern resort city of Antalya to follow the trial -- whose appearance is strikingly similar to Goktas and who recently started doing stand-up.
"I am not afraid to do stand-up after his arrest, I will keep doing it. His arrest made me feel proud: his strong stance and the way he keeps making jokes from his prison cell keep me going," 22-year-old Fatih Yilmaz told AFP outside the court.
Others were angry about the conditions in which the comedian was being held at Karatepe high-security prison, about 120 kilometres (75 miles) west of Istanbul -- a "well-type" cell with no daylight that creates the sensation of being held inside a deep well.
"I'm outraged that Deniz Goktas is being held in a well-type cell just because he did his job," a retiree called Nesrin Demirkan told AFP.
Turkish media said the Ankara-born comedian began his career at TuzBiber in Istanbul and has gone on to perform at venues across Europe and the United States.
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