Despite father’s arrest, Kanter refuses to be silenced

Kyle Phillips / The Transcript. 
Oklahoma City Thunder’s Enes Kanter gives Henry Hale a hat earlier this year during his visit at the J.D. McCarty Center. Kanter, an outspoken critic of the current Turkish government, has been facing increasing pressure from Turkey to stop talking. His passport has been canceled, a warrant for his arrest has been issued, and his father was arrested this morning.
Kyle Phillips / The Transcript. Oklahoma City Thunder’s Enes Kanter gives Henry Hale a hat earlier this year during his visit at the J.D. McCarty Center. Kanter, an outspoken critic of the current Turkish government, has been facing increasing pressure from Turkey to stop talking. His passport has been canceled, a warrant for his arrest has been issued, and his father was arrested this morning.


Date posted: June 4, 2017

Caleb Slinkard & Fred Katz | Transcript Staff

When Oklahoma City Thunder center Enes Kanter found out his father, Mehmet, had been arrested by Turkish authorities, he was, of course, devastated. After all, the Turkish native has been an outspoken critic of Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, whose government recently canceled Kanter’s passport and issued a warrant for his arrest. Now, it appears Erdoğan’s attempts to silence the OKC big man have extended to his immediate family.

“My brother, the one in America, told me that the police came to our house in Istanbul and they raided the house,” he said. “They took some computers and phones away, and then, at the end of the search, they took my dad away.”

In a public statement following last year’s coup attempt, which Erdoğan blames on former Imam and scholar Fethullah Gülen, Kanter’s family disowned him. Now Kanter is saying that statement was a political move on his family’s behalf to protect themselves from retribution for Kanter’s outspoken views and his support of Gülen.

“They had to,” he said. “This would have happened a year ago if they hadn’t released that statement.”

Kanter isn’t sure if his father is safe, or if he’ll be thrown in jail. He said the Turkish government hasn’t released a reason for Mehmet’s arrest.

“I can’t contact [my family], because they took all the phones and computers. But even if I could, [the government] would be listening, and they know if I’m communicating with my mom — it doesn’t matter how old she is — they will still put her in jail,” Kanter said. “My father is going to be interrogated Monday.”

But that doesn’t mean Kanter intends to stop talking about Erdoğan, whose actions following a coup attempt in July of 2016 have resulted in the imprisonment and internal displacement of hundreds of thousands of Turks, according to Amnesty International and the Human Rights Watch. Erdoğan’s government has shuttered the independent media as Erdoğan consolidates power.

“I play in the NBA; that’s why people know my story,” Kanter said. “My dad is only one. There are thousands of kids out there who have no mom or dad because of what’s going on in Turkey. I have to speak and let people know what’s going on. I want the whole world to know what’s going on, because they try to hid it.”

Kanter said journalists have been arrested, schools have been shutdown, women are being raped and anyone who speaks out against Erdoğan is jailed. He said he feels safe in America, but anywhere else he would run the risk of being kidnaped and murdered.

“I’m safe where I am right now,” he said. “[The Turkish government] doesn’t want to look bad to the American government. If I was anywhere else in the world, my life would be in danger.”

Erdoğan visited the White House in mid-May, a visit that was overshadowed by video of his security detail assaulting protestors outside of the Turkish embassy. Turkey’s attempts to force Kanter to return home began shortly afterward. On May 20, they canceled his passport as he flew from Indonesia to Romania, and on May 26 they issued an arrest warrant, claiming Kanter is a terrorist.

“When I got back to America, I went on all the shows and told people what’s really going on in Turkey, and they got really, really mad,” Kanter said. “That’s why they tried to hurt me. There’s thousands more people out there that they cannot reach because they’re out of the country, so they’re arresting their families and wives and putting them in jail. They’re saying ‘Hey, if you come back, we’re going to let your family go.’ They’re doing the same thing to me.”

The support for Kanter is coming from everywhere: Thunder staff and players, regular fans, and even women with marriage proposals to cement Kanter’s immigration status.

“My teammates are texting me, asking what’s going on: Russell [Westbrook] was texting me, Steven [Adams] was texting me,” Kanter said. “I see support from not just my teammates, not just Oklahoma: I see support from everywhere in America. Even girls are saying ‘Hey, I can marry you so you can have American citizenship.’”

 

Source: The Norman Transcript , June 2, 2017


Related News

Closing down prep schools another poor education policy decision

We are not convinced that shutting down prep schools will either improve quality of education in Turkey or increase educational equality,” said Batuhan Aydagül, director of the Education Reform Initiative (ERI or Eğitim Reformu Girişimi, ERG).

Erdogan’s long arm abroad: no way to get passports, facing deportation to Turkey, no help!

A letter sent to journalist Lindsey Snell revealed and proved once again that Turkey’s constitutional dictator Erdogan is determined to exterminate members of the Hizmet. He has limited, if not wiped off freedoms, for them both in the Turkey and abroad, which includes freedom to travel.

Lawyer files criminal complaint against Gülen

An İstanbul-based lawyer filed a criminal complaint on Wednesday against Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, with allegations such as the establishment of a criminal organization, organizing an attempt to overthrow the government, organized fraud and abuse of duty as a civil servant.

War on Gulen Movement undermines Turkish diplomacy

Bent on dismantling the “parallel state,” Ankara has embarked on a reckless campaign that threatens to undermine Turkey’s foreign relations. After corruption probes targeted Cabinet members in December 2013, it came as no surprise when the AKP government dismissed and reassigned thousands of police officers, prosecutors and judges in the course of a fierce war on the movement of cleric Fethullah Gulen.

Kimse Yok Mu extends helping hand to Haitian orphans

Administrators from Kimse Yok Mu, a Turkish aid organization, along with a group of Turkish businessmen paid a visit to an orphanage in Haiti and presented gifts to around 100 orphans. The visit by the Kimse Yok Mu to the Centre d’encadrement d’enfants (Help for the Children) in the city of Croix-des-Bouquets was realized on […]

Interview with Henri Barkey on the Hizmet Movement

Henri Barkey, who has been one of the leading Turkey analysts in Washington, joined journalist Ruşen Çakır’s live broadcast via Periscope. He made interesting comments about the claims of the “parallel structure,” the situation of Fethullah Gülen in the US, and the appointment of trustees to the Zaman daily.

Latest News

Fethullah Gulen – man of education, peace and dialogue – passes away

Fethullah Gülen’s Condolence Message for South African Human Rights Defender Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Hizmet Movement Declares Core Values with Unified Voice

Ankara systematically tortures supporters of Gülen movement, Kurds, Turkey Tribunal rapporteurs say

Erdogan possessed by Pharaoh, Herod, Hitler spirits?

Devious Use of International Organizations to Persecute Dissidents Abroad: The Erdogan Case

A “Controlled Coup”: Erdogan’s Contribution to the Autocrats’ Playbook

Why is Turkey’s Erdogan persecuting the Gulen movement?

Purge-victim man sent back to prison over Gulen links despite stage 4 cancer diagnosis

In Case You Missed It

Islamic scholar Gülen rejects involvement with graft probe and wiretappings

Gift From God: How Erdogan Turned July 15 Into Windfall

Turkish doctors hailed for their assistance in CAR

Teacher detained in Turkey after forced return from Myanmar

8-year-old cancer patient departs to Germany for treatment without parents due to ongoing travel ban

Washington Post on Erdoğan’s purge: Cruel frenzy in march towards authoritarianism

Mysteries, and a Crackdown, Persist a Year After a Failed Coup in Turkey

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News