In the 32-minute E:60 interview, Turkoglu only referenced Kanter by name once and said he had nothing to say to his former teammate: “I don’t send messages to terrorist organization supporters.” In response to a question about how Americans should view the saga between Kanter and Turkish government officials, Turkoglu said: “All I have to say to all my American fellows, be careful.”
Enes Kanter Rumors
All NBA Players
Position: C
Born: 05/20/92
Height: 6-11 / 2.11
Weight:261 lbs. / 118.8 kg.
Salary: $19,264,603
Born: 05/20/92
Height: 6-11 / 2.11
Weight:261 lbs. / 118.8 kg.
Salary: $19,264,603
In his interview, Turkoglu repeatedly referenced Gulen as a terrorist and Kanter’s support of him as treasonous. Turkoglu said Kanter uses his NBA stardom as a “platform for propaganda of [a] terrorist leader.” He said he spoke to E:60 to raise awareness about Turkey’s view of Kanter and Gulen. “So, obviously, it’s our job sometimes to speak loudly and clearly to inform everybody about the real situation.”
The volatile, longstanding dispute between Portland Trail Blazers center Enes Kanter and Turkish government officials has added another chapter, this time in separate interviews conducted by E:60’s Jeremy Schaap, with Kanter again comparing Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to a dictator, and former NBA player Hedo Turkoglu, now a Turkish government official, accusing Kanter of abandoning his homeland to support a “terrorist.”
Turkoglu spoke carefully and deliberately to Schaap, saying that Kanter has been “openly supporting a terrorist leader” — Fethullah Gulen. Gulen is a U.S.-based Turkish cleric who has been living in exile from Turkey since 1999; he is Kanter’s spiritual adviser and a bitter rival of Erdogan’s. The Turkish government has accused Gulen of masterminding a failed military coup in the country in 2016. Gulen has denied the allegation, and the U.S. government has rejected Turkey’s requests to extradite him from his home in Pennsylvania.
In his interview, Turkoglu repeatedly referenced Gulen as a terrorist and Kanter’s support of him as treasonous. Turkoglu said Kanter uses his NBA stardom as a “platform for propaganda of [a] terrorist leader.” He said he spoke to E:60 to raise awareness about Turkey’s view of Kanter and Gulen. “So, obviously, it’s our job sometimes to speak loudly and clearly to inform everybody about the real situation.”
Enes Kanter has found a political ally in his new home state. Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden on Friday asked U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to support Kanter’s free speech and well-being, urging the senior government official to tell his Turkish counterparts that their retribution against Kanter for his criticism of their autocratic rule is unacceptable for a U.S. ally. In a letter to Pompeo, Wyden wrote that Kanter has “eloquently and powerfully exercised his freedom of conscience to criticize Turkey’s President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan,” and likened Erdogan’s tactics to that of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“President Erdogan has responded like many thin-skinned autocrats before him, by going after Mr. Kanter and his family,” Wyden wrote in his letter to Pompeo. “America cannot and must not stay silent in the face of such a blatant assault on free thought and expression. This is even truer when the perpetrators of such odious behavior are supposed friends and allies.”
