Enes Kanter is in international limbo.
The Oklahoma City Thunder center was detained in Bucharest, Romania on Saturday after Turkey revoked his passport. He posted a video on Twitter in which he claims police in Romania have held him “for hours” and Turkey has targeted him due to his views on president Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
“The reason behind it is just, of course, my political views,” Kanter said. “And the guy who did it is Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the president of Turkey.
“He’s attacked people in Washington. He’s a bad, bad man, he is a dictator and he’s the Hitler of our century.
“I will keep you posted, guys, but just pray for us and I’ll tell you guys what’s going on.”
Erdogan visited U.S. president Donald Trump in Washington D.C. on Tuesday.
Kanter’s travel woes fall on his 25th birthday, as he arrived in Romania from Jakarta, Indonesia, as part of his 2017 Enes Kanter Light Foundation global tour. The Thunder said they’re working with the NBA and gathering information through “the appropriate channels,” according to ESPN.
The Globe Post’s Mahir Zeynalov suspects this is only the beginning of Kanter’s legal problems.
Kanter recently completed his sixth NBA season and his second with Oklahoma City. He averaged 14.3 points and 6.7 rebounds in 2016-17 and helped the Thunder reach the first round of the NBA playoffs, where they fell to the Houston Rockets in five games.
Thumbnail photo via Mark J. Rebilas/USA TODAY Sports Images
