NBA player, Enes Kanter and Turkey's Executive President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan really don't like each other. So much so in 2016, Kanter, who is Turkish, posted a tweet, calling, Erdogan, "the Hitler of our century." The Turkish government immediately deleted his Twitter account throughout the country. A year later his passport was cancelled and the government issued a warrant for his arrest, accusing him of being a member of a, "terror group."
Of course, Enes Kanter isn't the only one dwelling in the dog house so to speak when it comes to the Turkish government these days. In fact just about anyone who says something bad about Mr. Erdogan, or is a fan of his once ally and now political foe, Fethullah Gulen stands a good chance of ending up doing a real life version of Billy Hayes in the film, "Midnight Express".
Just ask Gulen. He saw the writing on the wall, decided to skip the experience and now lives in some out of the way hamlet in Pennsylvania.
Hey, these things happen when you have a head of state who is steering his country toward a dictatorship and the exalted title of, Executive President for Life. Especially after a coup attempt in 2016 took he and his pals, at least momentarily, to the brink of political extinction.
Kanter's family, who still live in Turkey, knew things would turn bleak for them after Enes made the, "Hitler," comment. They publicly disowned him and urged the Knick's center to change his last name. Shortly afterward, Kanter, obviously stung to the core, issued a statement saying he loved Fethullah Gulen more than his family. In response--and proving in Turkey disowning your kid sometimes just isn't enough--Kanter's father, Mehmet, was canned from his college teaching job and arrested by Turkish authorities, although he was later released.
Well, what do you expect? According to Wikipedia, as far back as 2013, Erdogan was finished with taking any political guff. That year there were country wide demonstrations protesting his growing authoritarianism. He called the people in the streets some vile names then sent in the cops who promptly killed 22 of them. After he and Gulen had their falling out he purged the judiciary branch of any suspected dissidents and replaced the empty seats with people who are steadfastly loyal to him. In order to make sure the local media didn't question this brutal nonsense his boys threw more journalists into the slammer during 2016 and 2017 than any other country in the world.
Then, to make sure there wasn't any word on the street criticizing him, he blocked Wikipedia, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube in Turkey.
In all honesty this totalitarian sort of shit leads one to believe Enes Kanter has a valid point when it comes to the current Turkish regime.
It also explains why that same regime is in the process of filing an Interpol arrest warrant and extradition papers for Kanter. After all, the man will simply not shut up. When he isn't playing basketball, he's been meeting with congressmen, then posting photos of those meeting on social media. In addition the Washington Post published an op-ed piece by him which details his opposition to Erdogan. In other word, he is doing all the things any American assumes they can do without fear of repercussions--well, at least for now.
Thursday, Kanter's team was in London to play the Washington Wizards. The Knick's big man wasn't there. He was on CNN explaining why he didn't go. He said, quite frankly, he was afraid the Turkish secret police would kill him.
While you can't be sure about an assassination, at least not this quickly after Jamal Khashoggi's gruesome murder, which the Turks were proud to expose--everyone has to admit a clandestine abduction was a distinct possibility. Or, even a public detention and extradition. Who knows what the British will do these days? Their politics are almost as chaotic as ours right now.
Listen, I don't blame Mr. Kanter for not going--we all know it isn't paranoia when they really are out to get you.
And, let's face it, Recep Tayyip Erdogan certainly is out to get, Enes Kanter, not to mention a whole lot of other people.
sic vita est
1-19-19
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