NBA Star Feuding with Turkish President Fears for His Life, Won't Travel with His Team
New York center Enes Kanter will not travel to London for the Knicks’ upcoming international game because he believes he could be assassinated for his opposition to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Kanter announced his plan Friday night after the Knicks’ 119-112 win over the Lakers in Los Angeles.
Big W tonight as @Enes_Kanter finishes with 16 points & 15 rebounds.
(@MajorEnergy) pic.twitter.com/JozMl72bIF— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) January 5, 2019
The Knicks later said Kanter also won’t make the trip because of a visa issue.
Kanter will stay in New York while the Knicks travel to face Washington at The O2 arena in London on Jan. 17.
He says he can’t travel anywhere except the U.S. and Canada because “there’s a chance I could get killed out there.”
“Sadly, I’m not going because of that freaking lunatic, the Turkish president,” Kanter said.
Enes Kanter says he’s not going to London with Knicks because he fears for his life due to “that freaking lunatic, the Turkish president. There’s a chance that I can get killed out there.” pic.twitter.com/NvRDSHWB4V
— Ohm Youngmisuk (@NotoriousOHM) January 5, 2019
“It’s pretty sad that all the stuff affects my career and basketball, because I want to be out there and help my team win,” he said. “But just because of the one lunatic guy, one maniac, one dictator, I can’t even go out there and do my job.
“It’s pretty sad.”
Kanter has been a vocal critic of Erdogan for years, once referring to him as “the Hitler of our century.”
His Turkish passport was revoked in 2017, and Turkey issued an international warrant for his arrest.
Kanter is a follower of a U.S.-based Turkish cleric accused by Turkey’s government of masterminding a failed military coup in 2016.
Kanter said it would be “easy” for an attempt on his life to be made in London.
“They’ve got a lot of spies there,” he said. “I think I can get killed there easy. It would be a very ugly situation.”
Kanter’s father, Mehmet, was indicted last year and charged with “membership in a terror group.”
The former professor lost his job after the failed military coup even though he publicly disavowed his son and his beliefs.
“People often ask me why I continue to speak out if it’s hurting my family,” Kanter wrote in a column for Time magazine last year.
“But that’s exactly why I speak out,” he said. “The people Erdogan is targeting are my family, my friends, my neighbors, my classmates.
“I need to speak out, or my country will suffer in silence.”
The Western Journal has reviewed this Associated Press story and may have altered it prior to publication to ensure that it meets our editorial standards.
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