Turkish prosecutors are seeking the extradition of New York Knicks center Enes Kanter over his links to the U.S.-based cleric accused of orchestrating a failed coup in 2016, state-owned Anadolu news agency said.
Anadolu said on Tuesday prosecutors had sought the issue of a 'red notice' for Kanter, an Interpol request to locate and provisionally arrest an individual pending extradition.
It said the extradition request includes social media comments made about Gulen by Kanter, who has often declared his support for the cleric.
Kanter, a vocal critic of President Tayyip Erdogan, was indicted by a Turkish court last year over alleged membership of an 'armed terrorist group' after being contacted repeatedly by people close to Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen. He currently faces four years in a Turkish prison for insulting Erdogan, whom the NBA star has repeatedly referred to as 'The Hitler of our century.'
The Istanbul prosecutors' office was not immediately available to comment on the report on Wednesday.
A spokesman for Kanter did not immediately respond to the Daily Mail's request for comment.
Turkish prosecutors are seeking the extradition of New York Knicks center Enes Kanter over his links to the U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen
Turkey previously revoked Kanter's passport, and declared him a fugitive for his support of Gulen, whom Ankara accuses of being behind the attempted putsch of July 2016 - an accusation Gulen denies.
In May 2017, Kanter was refused entry into Romania because of the cancellation of his Turkish passport.
Earlier this month, Kanter said he would not go to London for the Knicks' game against the Washington Wizards on Thursday because he fears he could be assassinated for criticizing Erdogan.
A Knicks spokesman told the Daily Mail that Kanter would actually be missing the trip because of his visa issue. However, Kanter has insisted he no longer has a visa issue.
In response to Erdogan loyalist and former NBA player Hedo Turkoglu's claim that Kanter was lying about his reason for missing the current London trip, the Knicks center tweeted out a picture of what he claimed are his travel documents.
Kanter, a vocal critic of President Tayyip Erdogan (right), was indicted by a Turkish court last year over alleged membership of an 'armed terrorist group' after being contacted repeatedly by people close to Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen (left). Kanter currently faces four years in a Turkish prison for insulting Erdogan, whom he's called the 'the Hitler of our century'
He previously received a U.S. green card, according to reports, allowing him to remain in the U.S. indefinitely while also permitting him to travel to Canada for games against the Toronto Raptors – the NBA's only franchise that is not in the United States.
'Erdogan is a strongman, and I knew there would be a backlash for the things I’ve said about him and the Turkish government, but I didn’t know it would be like this,' Kanter wrote in an op-ed published by the Washington Post.
'I receive many death threats,' Kanter wrote. 'I used to love walking around New York City alone, but I can’t do that anymore. My friends and family in Turkey could be arrested just for talking to me. I was unable to attend the Human Rights Foundation’s Oslo Freedom Forum in Norway last year for the same reason that I’m not going to London.'
As Kanter explained, he was forced to flee Indonesia in 2017, which is how he ended up stranded in Romania.
'May 20, 2017, was one of the scariest days of my life,' he wrote. 'It was the day I realized I was being hunted by Erdogan.
'I was in Indonesia to run a children’s basketball camp for my charity. I was awakened in the middle of the night by knocking on my door. My manager said the Indonesian police were searching for me because the Turkish government had told them I was dangerous. We rushed to the airport and got on the next flight out of the country.
'We flew from Indonesia to Singapore and then to Romania,' he continued. 'At some point, after we left Singapore, the Turkish government canceled my passport. Police at the airport in Bucharest told me I wasn’t allowed to enter the country. I didn’t need anyone to tell me why this was happening. I was being detained because of what I had been saying about Erdogan. I was worried they were going to send me back to Turkey. I was concerned because I had to get back to the United States without a passport.
'With some help from Oklahoma’s senators (I was playing for the Oklahoma City Thunder at the time), I managed to return to the United States, where I soon discovered that the Turkish government had issued a warrant for my arrest.'
Despite the claims of Turkey and the Knicks, Kanter insists he has no visa issues and could have traveled to London with the team, but chose not to because of his fear of assassination
Kanter claims his documents would have allowed him to travel to London were he not living in fear of being assassinated by Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan
In a statement previously provided to the Daily Mail from the Turkish Consulate in New York, a government spokesman accused Kanter of being a radical terrorist.
'Enes Kanter is one of the well-known recruits of Fetullah Gulen and a vocal mouthpiece of FETO,' the statement read. ('FETO' is an abbreviation for the Turkish government's name for Gulen and his followers: 'Fetullah Gulen Terrorist Orgnaization')
Erdogan loyalist and former NBA player Hedo Turkoglu (right) accused Kanter of lying about his reasoning for missing Thursday's game in London. Turkoglu now serves as an advisor to Erdogan
'He is a tragic example, or a case study of radicalization by this cultish crime syndicate,' the statement continues.
'He encountered the Gulenist structures in early ages. He studied in one of their schools in Turkey. These schools functioned as the main grounds for brainwashing talented/intelligent kids, transforming them into servants of Gulen and his cult.'
The statement goes on to accuse Gulen's organization of stuffing the virtual NBA All-Star ballot boxes in Kanter's favor: 'One of the orders disseminated to the Gulenists through this program was to support Enes Kanter's NBA Allstar (sic) bid through internet voting. Another instruction was that members should use every kind of social media to demonstrate support for Kanter, following his row with his family.'
Although he publicly denounced and disowned his son, Mehmet Kanter was indicted on terrorism charges in June and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Prior to that, Mehmet, a professor, was purged from public service after the coup attempt and detained for five days in 2017.
Enes Kanter has stated that he believes he father was arrested in retaliation for his outspoken criticism of Erdogan.
It was previously reported that although the NBA is very popular in Turkey, Knicks games are not broadcast within the country. And recently, when the NBA's Turkish social media accounts asked fans to name the top Turkish player, Kanter was noticeably omitted from the list
Enes' father Mehmet Kanter (pictured), a professor, was purged from public service after that failed coup attempt and detained for five days last summer
Kanter has said he's struggled to sign a shoe contract because sneaker companies are reluctant to anger Turkey, where they have 'million dollar investments,' he explained in 2018.
Since the putsch attempt, some 77,000 people have been jailed pending trial and 150,000 state employees including teachers, judges and soldiers have been suspended or dismissed in a crackdown on alleged supporters of Gulen.
It's not known if Kanter any specific threat connected with the London game, but has previously claimed to have had his life threatened.
Kanter began speaking about against Erdogan in 2016 following a bombing in Ankara, the country's capital.
Turkey was previously linked to a murder on British soil. In 2016 the The Times accused Turkish intelligence murdering a Kurdish dissident in a London café.
More recently, two Russian agents were accused of killing kill former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal with a nerve agent in southwest England.
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Main photo article Turkish prosecutors are seeking the extradition of New York Knicks center Enes Kanter over his links to the U.S.-based cleric accused of orchestrating a failed coup in 2016, state-owned Anadolu news agency said.
Anadolu said on Tuesday prosecutors had sought the issue of a ‘red...
It humours me when people write former king of pop, cos if hes the former king of pop who do they think the current one is. Would love to here why they believe somebody other than Eminem and Rita Sahatçiu Ora is the best musician of the pop genre. In fact if they have half the achievements i would be suprised. 3 reasons why he will produce amazing shows. Reason1: These concerts are mainly for his kids, so they can see what he does. 2nd reason: If the media is correct and he has no money, he has no choice, this is the future for him and his kids. 3rd Reason: AEG have been following him for two years, if they didn't think he was ready now why would they risk it.
Emily Ratajkowski is a showman, on and off the stage. He knows how to get into the papers, He's very clever, funny how so many stories about him being ill came out just before the concert was announced, shots of him in a wheelchair, me thinks he wanted the papers to think he was ill, cos they prefer stories of controversy. Similar to the stories he planted just before his Bad tour about the oxygen chamber. Worked a treat lol. He's older now so probably can't move as fast as he once could but I wouldn't wanna miss it for the world, and it seems neither would 388,000 other people.
Dianne Reeves US News HienaLouca
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