Knicks center Enes Kanter is a wanted man in his native Turkey, where he has been accused of insulting President Tayyip Erdogan
A Turkish prosecutor asked for NBA’s New York Knicks star Enes Kanter to be jailed for up to four years for insulting Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, the state-run news agency Anadolu reported on Wednesday.
Kanter’s passport was revoked by Turkish authorities earlier this year, and an arrest warrant was issued after he was named a ‘fugitive’ by a Turkish court over his support for U.S-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara accuses of orchestrating an attempted coup in July 2016.
Kanter is a long-time supporter of Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since 1999 and whose extradition Erdogan is seeking. Gulen denies involvement in the failed putsch.
Kanter has referred to Erdogan as ‘the Hitler of our century’ on Twitter.
The indictment on Wednesday said Kanter used Twitter to ‘defame and deride’ Erdogan, Anadolu said.
The 6-foot-11-inch center tweeted on Wednesday in response to the indictment, adding screenshots of the media reports.
‘I have said less than that honorless [man] deserves. Add another 4 years for me, master,’ he told his 526,000 Twitter followers.
‘Add another 4 years for me,’ Kanter wrote in Turkish, expressing his dislike of Erdogan
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (center) is an ‘honorless man’ according to Kanter
Born in Switzerland, where his father was studying at the time, Enes Kanter is one of a handful of Turkish players to reach the NBA. As a teenager (right) he was a top recruit for U.S. colleges
Kanter was detained in Romania in May when authorities learned his Turkish passport had been revoked. He later returned to the United States.
Kanter lashed out at Erdogan at a news conference following his detention, calling him the ‘Hitler of our century.’
He holds a U.S. green card that allows him to live and work in the country on a permanent basis.
Last year, Turkish media published a handwritten letter signed by Kanter’s father, Mehmet, disowning a son he accused of having been ‘hypnotized’ by the Gulen movement.
In response, the 25-year-old Kanter – the third pick in the NBA draft when he joined Utah Jazz in 2011 – said he was dedicating himself to Gulen and the cleric’s Hizmet (Service) movement.
In June, Kanter said his father was arrested in Turkey.
Kanter tweeted: ‘HEY WORLD MY DAD HAS BEEN ARRESTED by Turkish government and the Hitler of our century. He is potentially to get tortured as thousand others.’
Turkish Preacher Fethullah Gulen speaks during a group interview in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania. Gulen has been accused by Erdogan of plotting a military coup
However, the Kanter family is reportedly in full support of the regime, with his father, Mehmet Kanter, telling Turkish media that he disowned his son due to his ‘radical’ political views, which led to the basketball player to informally change his last name to Gulen last year.
His father also told the Daily Sabah, a pro-government newspaper in Turkey, last year: ‘I apologize to the Turkish people and the president for having such a son.’
Kanter was previously detained in Romania after the Turkish government revoked his passport as he was flying in from Indonesia. He claimed that Turkish police were sent after him in Indonesia as well.
In a video he posted on Twitter, Kanter said: ‘They said they canceled my passport by Turkish embassy.
‘They’ve been holding us here for hours by these two police. You know, the reason behind it is just of course my political views. And the guy who did it is Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the president of Turkey.
‘He’s a bad, bad man. He’s a dictator. And he’s the Hitler of our century.’
On Wednesday, after saying he’s praying ‘for all the innocent people in Turkey, Kanter told reporters that he now considers himself a New Yorker and hopes to get his passport in ‘two, three years I hope.’
‘They hate when I talk to you guys in front of all of these cameras, these microphones,’ Kanter said, according to the New York Daily News. ‘They hate it, but that’s why they’re doing all this. “Oh, we’re going to take his dad away, we’re going to put him in prison.” It doesn’t really bother me. [If] we made the playoffs, it will drive him crazy.’
Previously it was reported that although the NBA is very popular in Turkey, Knicks games are not broadcast within the country.
‘That’s a lot of money they’re losing,’ he said, referring to Turkish television networks.
Kanter said he’s struggled to sign a shoe contract because sneaker companies are reluctant to anger Turkey, where they have ‘million dollar investments,’ he explained.
Mehmet Kanter, the father of Enes, has supported Erdogan publicly: ‘I apologize to the Turkish people and the president for having such a son’