Picture from Yardbarker.com
NBA free agent Enes Kanter Freedom, who last played with the Boston Celtics in 2022, has been placed on Turkey's 2023 most-wanted terrorist list. Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has also placed a 10 million Turkish Lira, or 500,000 US dollar, bounty on Freedom's head. Freedom, Turkey native and the former 3rd overall pick in the 2011 NBA draft, had "called out Erdoğan for being a 'dictator,' stepped on a photo of him at a protest, and even dubbed him the 'Hitler of our century,'" according to the New York Post. The Post also reports that Turkey's most-wanted terrorist list includes both international-law defying criminals as well as journalists.
Kanter added "Freedom" to his name when he became a US citizen in November 2021. He is known off the court for his extensive human rights activism. Freedom claimed he was blacklisted from the NBA due to his frequent comments about the brutality of Chinese paramount leader Xi Jinping, since the NBA has a large fanbase from China and gains a lot of revenue from China. NBA commissioner Adam Silver would deny these claims. Freedom reportedly looks to sue the NBA for this incident, but is "waiting for the right time." Previously, Freedom's passport was revoked in 2017 by his home country and Turkey also requested Interpol to issue a "red notice" on him in 2019. Freedom's father was detained on the charge of terrorism in 2018, because of ties to a failed coup in Turkey, AP News reported. It's clear that Freedom's battle against Turkey did not begin in 2023, and seems to have a long complicated history.
Freedom posted to Instagram a picture of a news report of the bounty, with "I'm Upset" by Drake playing in the background. The song portion used stated the lyrics, "Half a million on my head I can accept, yeah, 'Least it makes me feel like someone tried their best, yeah, Want to waste a half a million, be my guest". Freedom would write the caption, "Come and get it @rterdogan (the Instagram profile for the Turkish president), Wanna waste half a million? Be my guest".
Freedom now lives in Washington DC and is in contact with the FBI, the New York Post stated. He told the New York Post, "Because of my platform, whenever I say something, it goes everywhere and the Turkish government hates that. They’re really sick of it, and they said ‘enough is enough’ and are doing whatever they can to shut me up."
Comments