Turkish stand-up comedian Deniz Göktaş was detained at Istanbul’s main airport on 2 July upon returning from an overseas trip, after a YouTube recording of his latest show—in which he described President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as a “reticent dictator who grew into the role”—accumulated nearly nine million views. The Istanbul chief prosecutor’s office stated it had received 185 public complaints and opened an investigation for “public insult of religious values,” an offence carrying a prison term of six months to one year. Turkish media reported that a charge of insulting the president was later added, a statute under which more than 160,000 investigations have been launched since Erdoğan assumed the presidency in 2014.

Government-aligned social media accounts denounced Göktaş, while opposition figures and diaspora journalists praised his courage. The imprisoned former leader of the main opposition Republican People’s Party, Can Dündar, said in a video message that the comedian had shown “the emperor has no clothes.” A New York University historian wrote that Göktaş had demonstrated to Turkish youth that it is possible to speak without fear. The comedian himself appeared to anticipate his fate: the show was titled “Ölü Deniz”—a pun on “Dead Sea” and “Dead Deniz”—and featured a cardboard cutout of his face placed sideways on stage as if decapitated.

The detention is the latest in a series of legal actions that, according to Istanbul-based analysts, have targeted artists, journalists and opposition politicians. In April, female comedian Tuba Ulu was detained for a joke about an Ottoman sultan and faces up to three years in prison. Several staff of the satirical magazine LeMan are on trial over a cartoon depicting religious figures. The same week as Göktaş’s arrest, authorities banned all Pride marches in Istanbul, citing public order, and detained 64 activists. The moves follow the March imprisonment of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, Erdoğan’s chief political rival, on corruption and terrorism charges he denies, and the court-ordered removal of the opposition party leader in May.

Viewed from European capitals, the intensification of prosecutions coincides with preparations for a major NATO summit, placing Turkey’s domestic trajectory under renewed scrutiny. Göktaş remains in police custody at the Istanbul Security Branch Directorate; a court appearance to determine whether he will be formally charged and arrested is expected in the coming days.