(UPDATE 6/7/17) Enes Kanter’s father Mehmet has been released from Turkish Police custody, according to the Associated Press.
The father of Oklahoma City Thunder center Enes Kanter has been released from police custody in Turkey, where he was detained as part of an investigation into alleged links to U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, according to media reports.
The private Dogan news agency said university professor Mehmet Kanter was released Wednesday after five days in custody on condition that he regularly report to a police station.
(Original story from 6/2/17)
It was just last week when a warrant was issued for Enes Kanter’s arrest, and now his father has been arrested in Turkey. Kanter is well-known to be outspoken against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Kanter’s political views eventually led to his family disowning him.
In the summer of 2016, Mehmet Kanter (Enes’ father) wrote possibly the worst thing a son could hear from his father.
“I apologize to the Turkish people and the president for having such a son.”
Kanter has said that his father Mehmet, who’s a college professor, had been spit on at a grocery store because of him. This is the epitome of disrespect, and although the Turkish people aren’t all revealing their emotions, many feel the same way.
In an interview after returning to the U.S. last summer, Kanter delivered a powerful quote, which should help us realize how privileged some of us are, to live where we do.
“Right now, even if I try to communicate with my parents, my mom or dad or brother or sister, [the government] will probably listen to their phones and as soon as they are in contact with me, they will put them in a jail — and the jails are not fun. Right now, my family can’t even go out to eat. My brother told me that my dad went to the supermarket and they spit on his face.”
Kanter went on to inform people of the situation on Twitter and referred to the Turkish President as the “Hitler of our century.”
HEY WORLD
MY DAD HAS BEEN ARRESTED
by Turkish government and the Hitler of our century
He is potentially to get tortured as thousand others— Enes Kanter (@Enes_Kanter) June 2, 2017
