Turkish Comedian Arrested for “

I think (the Koran) is the best of four books; for one thing, it is a bold statement in the 600s. It's also very difficult for the author; if he remembers a new idea, unfortunately, we said, ' This is the last book...'", reports Euronews, broadcast Periscope

That was the joke that prompted renowned Turkish comedian Deniz Goktas to be arrested on arrival at Istanbul Airport on Thursday for allegedly insulting Islam and President Recep Tayip Erdogan.

It is not yet clear what part of his 90-minute performance in the state-up, published on YouTube, is an insult to the president of the republic, which is a criminal offence under Article 299 of the Criminal Turkish Code. However, he openly called it a"dicator", which is finally"in peace with his wishes".

The census was released on June 24th and has since been seen nearly nine million times, where Göktas took a satirical look at political developments in Turkey and ridiculed almost all sides in the political spectrum, including Erdogan's imprisoned rival, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, whose arrest last year triggered massive street protests.

Göktaş's arrest came as authorities have expanded a blow to anyone seen as critical of Turkey's Islamist-conservative government or its values, with increased legal investigations into musicians, artists, journalists and politicians, among others.

"Denis Göktaş was arrested at Istanbul Airport on July 2nd", the Istanbul Public Prosecutor's office said in a statement.

She said she had received 185 complaints about a stage-up show and added that he was under investigation for"public reference to religious values".

Prior to his arrest, short clips from Göktaş's show on the social media X platform were banned in Turkey for reasons <x0 national security and public order".

Several days later, prosecutors opened an investigation into the comedian, saying the show included"offensive statements that constituted a criminal offence".

Göktaş, who said on X that he was on vacation abroad at the time, flew back to Turkey on Thursday, knowing he would be arrested.

He will appear in court Friday morning, his lawyer said.

Turkish media reported that the Ankara-born comedian began his track-up career at Istanbul's TuzBiber comedy club in 2019. Since then he has performed in various countries in Europe and the US./Periscope/