Deniz Göktaş was born in Ankara in 1994. A graduate of the Department of Psychology at Middle East Technical University, Göktaş began her career within the TuzBiber community and is known for her black humor and politically charged performances. In 2026 she was arrested following an investigation initiated after one of her shows.

Göktaş initially enrolled in civil engineering but later left the program to transfer to the Department of Psychology at Middle East Technical University. She later began a master’s program in cinema and television at Kadir Has University.

While living in Istanbul, Göktaş performed at an open mic event organized by the TuzBiber community. Within about a week of that performance, she began giving ticketed shows under the same group. Her performances with the TuzBiber team were published on YouTube.

In 2020 she released her show recorded at Ses Tiyatrosu under the title "Selam Selam" on YouTube. Subsequently, she embarked on a European tour with a new show, which began in Berlin and concluded in Madrid.

Between 2020 and 2023, Göktaş wrote for Uykusuz Dergisi. She also hosted two podcast series: "Deniz Göktaş'a Ayıracak Vaktim Yok" on Spotify and "Haset" on Deezer.

In acting, she portrayed the character Yanni in the "Vita Brevis" episode of the series Gibi, marking her first on-camera role.

• Selam Selam: A YouTube-exclusive show recorded at Ses Tiyatrosu in 2020.
• Ölü Deniz: A stand-up show performed in various cities across Türkiye over approximately three years.
• Deniz Göktaş'a Ayıracak Vaktim Yok: A podcast series published on Spotify.
• Haset: A podcast series published on Deezer.
• Uykusuz Dergisi articles (2020–2023).
• "Vita Brevis" episode of the series Gibi: Acting role as Yanni.

Following the online sharing of a video recording of Göktaş’s "Ölü Deniz" performance on 1 June 2026 at the Harbiye Cemil Topuzlu Open Air Theatre, an investigation was opened by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office. The initial accusation was "publicly denigrating religious values," which was later expanded to include "insulting the President of the Republic."^【1】 Upon returning to Türkiye, Göktaş was detained at the airport, transferred to the Istanbul Courthouse (Çağlayan), and brought before the Peace Criminal Court with a request for detention, after which she was arrested on 3 July 2026.

In her statement at the police station, Göktaş stated that she had no intention of denigrating any religious value or targeting the President of the Republic during the performance. She explained that the contested remarks were taken from a script she had prepared earlier and emphasized that the show had been performed over 100,000 times across multiple cities in Türkiye over the past three years.^【2】