Kanter details passport fiasco
Center says he was targeted for political views
Turkish-born NBA player Enes Kanter, who returned to the United States after his home country canceled his passport, called his whirlwind trip back to the USA “one of the craziest experiences I’ve ever had” and passionately re-emphasized his disdain for Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on a conference call with the news media Monday.
After all the chaos, Kanter said he wanted to become an American citizen, adding the USA is “my home now.”
Kanter said he believed his passport was canceled in retaliation for his political views. He has called Erdogan “the Hitler of our century.” He said Erdogan and the Turkish government have tried to silence anyone who speaks out against their power and that he is the “only one left that is speaking the truth about the government” and the “corruption.”
Erdogan, who met with President Trump last week at the White House, has declared a new state of emergency — arresting 120 journalists, closing more than 150 news outlets and jailing 140,000 people. Kanter said he was “shocked” Erdogan was in Washington.
“He’s a terrible man,” Kanter said. “I hope the world does something about it. … I hope the whole world is watching. Once these people get to jail, it’s not over for them. … People are getting kidnapped, murdered, tortured and raped. I love my country, but I’m just trying to speak up for innocent people. … There are thousands of people out there with situations worse than mine.”
Kanter also said he was receiving death threats “every day,” most of which come on social media, and that his family’s life was in danger and he cannot communicate with them.
“If they contact me, they’ll be put in jail,” Kanter said. “The jails are not fun.”
The Oklahoma City Thunder center, detailing his arduous road back to the USA, said his trouble began in Indonesia when his manager knocked at his door and said Secret Service and the Indonesian army were looking for him because the Turkish government had called him a “dangerous man.”
“I was like, how am I a dangerous man?” Kanter said. “So we escaped the country around 5:30 a.m., and went to Singapore, then to Romania.”
Kanter said he was detained at the airport in Bucharest, where he was informed his Turkish passport was canceled and he was not allowed to leave the country.
While being detained, he said Romanian policemen were nice to him and he took a picture with them.
“It was an awkward, weird moment,” he said.
The Associated Press reported Monday that Romanian border police spokesman Fabian Badila said Kanter arrived Saturday about 1 p.m. from Frankfurt at Bucharest’s Henri Coanda Airport, traveling on a Turkish passport.
Badila told the AP “my colleagues discovered ... that the passport had been canceled by Turkish authorities, and legally he is not allowed to enter Romania.”
After negotiations, the 6-11 center was eventually able to fly to London before flying to the USA on Sunday. He thanked Homeland Security, the State Department, the Thunder, the NBA and the NBPA for their assistance and helping him get back to the USA. Kanter said it was a “team” effort.
As for his future traveling plans, Kanter said, “This is terrible, man. That’s what I do in the summertime,” referencing his foundation, the Enes Kanter Light Foundation, that requires lots of travel.