Comedian Deniz Göktaş's trial begins tomorrow at the 14th Criminal Court of First Instance on charges of "insulting the President", "insulting religious values" and "praising the crime and the criminal".
He obviously doesn't like the title "comedian" because he doesn't want to be funny. What he does is actually a unique Turkish work. It is best to call this job "teacher" for teaching, "director" for managing, and "make people laugh" for making people laugh.
For some reason, "Turkish Dictionary" did not include this beautiful word. There is a subtle reason, let's say it.
As dear readers may know, I am not a fan of writing articles talking about articles of the law and constitution that are not even considered at the level of the state and the higher judiciary, in order not to be a little funny.
I trust the TDV Islamic Encyclopedia, like all publications of the Presidency of Religious Affairs, which leaves 8 ministries behind with its 174-odd billion budget for 2026. If there is blame and sin, it is on the rulers.
14 for "Humor" in the Diyanet Islam Encyclopedia; There are 23 items for "Satire" and 6 items for "Latife".
I met Professor Hasan Çiftçi as the article writer. There are also reviews: “Satire and Social Criticism in Classical Islamic Literature (2002).
Çiftçi Hodja's starting point is very striking:
Satire and humor may be more valuable than eulogies in understanding the true face of past societies.
Why?
Because while praise often makes the ruler and powerful person seem much better, just, brave and perfect than they are; Satire and humor reflect the weaknesses of society, the attitudes of administrators, social relations and moral degradation more realistically.
There are two points he particularly emphasizes: Eulogy: "The manager is fair, everyone is at peace."
Satire/humor: “It reveals how the manager and the order around him work.”
Therefore, humor is not just a joke, but a means of reading history and society.
Çiftçi Hodja specifically states that the boundaries of these concepts in ancient Arabic, Persian and Turkish literature are not clear-cut. They are even used interchangeably. Despite this, he says that there are important differences between them in terms of function.
SATURY
At its core is personal interest, anger and grudge. A person:
• to eat,
• shrink,
• to reveal one's fault,
• to hurt,
• The aim of making ridicule predominates.
Therefore, satire is often directed at the person.
Çiftçi's very important observation is this:
The impact of satire directed at a person may diminish over time as that person disappears.
So satire is often personal and ephemeral.
HEZEL
Hezel more:
It takes place on the axis of joke + nonsense + entertainment + making you laugh.
Sometimes it may also contain vulgar or obscene elements.
Therefore:
Hezel = “Let's laugh, let's have fun.” It is closer to the area we can say.
But Çiftçi also emphasizes that hazelnuts are not always worthless. He states that in great names such as Mevlana, the concept of hezel is sometimes used for closed expressions that convey education, truth and wisdom.
The distinguishing feature of humor is that there is a social purpose behind laughter. Not just to make you laugh, but to make you think and change.
Humor:
• shows social flaw,
• exposes wrong behavior,
• questions the current order,
• criticizes,
• aims for change and reformation if possible.
Therefore:
Hezel → makes you laugh.
Satire → satire.
While humor makes you laugh, it attacks a social problem.
Making people laugh is not the purpose of humor itself.
Laughter is a kind of tool.
The main purpose: to show the mistake → to make you think → to criticize → to correct.
Therefore, there is laughter on the surface of humor and seriousness underneath. Humor can turn anger into criticism without turning it into a direct attack.
The question and the problem is this:
Why does humor become especially important in times of powerful rulers?
To a strong ruler clearly:
“You are doing it wrong.” It can be dangerous to say.
Therefore the critic sometimes says:
• makes jokes,
• uses allusion,
• speaks with double meanings,
• makes himself look stupid or crazy,
• says something seemingly absurd,
• but actually makes a very serious criticism.
Prof.Çiftçi explains that this situation is especially important in times of intense political and social pressure. At this point, he points out a very interesting function of humor:
* Humor can be an “indirect way” of telling the truth.
Çiftçi says that one of the reasons why some humorists portray themselves as crazy or use obscene/absurd elements in their works may be to make criticism against powerful governments safer.
In this respect: The person who seems "crazy" may actually be the one telling the clearest truth.
This is also very valuable for understanding why the crazy, crazy, crazy, clown and witty characters in classical literature sometimes have an extraordinarily free speech space.
Satire and humor show the disturbing side of reality.
For this reason, humor text is not just literary discourse. “What is going wrong in society?” It can also answer the question.
Prof. It would be a little incomplete to read Çiftçi's article only as a study on "humor in classical Islamic literature". In fact, it asks the question:
“How can one speak the truth to those in power?”
And the answer to humor is: “If you can't say it directly, say it by making you think!”
Humor here is not the enemy of truth; Sometimes it becomes a method of reaching the truth.
To take this point one step further: Eulogies can obscure the truth.
Satire can open up the truth. Humor, on the other hand, can make people think while revealing the truth.
***
– “Satire and Humor in Classical Islamic Literature” is not just a form of literary entertainment. It is also the activity of revealing the power of reflecting human character, flaws in society, moral corruption, social relations, and the relations between rulers and the governed.
For this reason, satire and humor can be read not only as "texts-presentations that make people laugh" but also as documents that help understand the people and society of the period.
It is especially useful to keep the following distinction in mind:
Not all humor is satire; But satire can be found in humor.
Likewise:
Not every thing that makes you laugh reaches the deep meaning of humor.
In other words, being "funny" and "producing humorous criticism" are not the same thing.
The only important thing here is "who dissed whom?" It is not. The real question is:
Why was that statement said and what does it tell us about the society of the time?
This is the valuable aspect in terms of history.
Humor can become one of the ways society holds a mirror to itself through administrators.
In a society:
• bribery,
• hypocrisy,
• fondness for rank,
• injustice,
• ignorance,
• show off,
• moral collapse
If there are problems such as these, explaining them directly can sometimes be didactic and dry.
The function of humor comes to the fore at this point: It shows the problem → exaggerates → makes it ridiculous → makes the audience/reader notice it.
Therefore, the critical power of humor lies not only in "making something look funny" but also in making visible what is considered normal by making it abnormal.
This is a very powerful mechanism. At this point, the function of humor against power comes to the fore:
Direct criticism against the government is not always easy.
Humor, criticism: joke → wit → irony → sarcasm
It is an indirect expression in its form. Thus, the spoken word has two sides:
Appears:
“I'm just kidding.”
Principal:
“I'm telling you something serious.”
The political/social power of humor emerges here.
But there is also a flip side to this:
Humor is not only used to criticize the powerful; It can also be used to humiliate the weak.
So humor itself is not automatically “good.”
The moral value of humor depends on who it is addressed to and what it aims at.
A significant portion of today's political humor still uses the same method.
For example, exaggerating the contradiction between what a politician says and what he does is not very different from the logic of classical humor.
Because humor can also make people think by lowering their defenses.
In the face of direct criticism, the human mind can immediately become defensive:
“He's attacking me.”
But when the same criticism comes through humor:
“Wait a minute… This is really funny.” says.
Then comes the second stage: “But why is it funny?”
Third stage: “Because there really is a contradiction here.”
And finally: “So the problem is me/society/system.”
This is the real power of humor.
Laughter can be the key that opens the door to thought.
The “mirror” function of humor
Therefore, we can think of humor as a chain like this:
Laughing → noticing → questioning → criticizing → thinking
Sometimes the last link of this: change may occur.
But change is not mandatory. Because there is an important limit here:
Humor can criticize; But the realization of criticism does not mean that change will occur.
A society can laugh at its own flaws and continue with the same flaws the next day.
Therefore, the power of humor lies in making the problem visible before it produces a solution.
***
Humor does not have to trivialize reality by making light of it; Sometimes it makes the truth more visible by making it portable.
In classical Islamic literature, humor is not just an "activity of making people laugh". It is a form of expression that questions people, society, morality and power.
The power of humor is not only in making people laugh.
It enables a person to notice by laughing, to think by noticing, and sometimes to object by thinking.
***
Let's hope that the efforts and wit of those who strive for a "Terror-free Turkey" in our heavenly homeland of "Longing for Laughter" will not be in vain, and that Mr. Deniz Göktaş's judgment will lead to a beneficial, peaceful decision.
