Kanter: If I lived in any other country, I'd fear for my life
New York Knicks center Enes Kanter continues to be outspoken in his opposition to the government in his native Turkey, and, as a result, continues to receive violent threats from the country that has, over the past few months, revoked his passport, issued a warrant for his arrest, and taken his father into custody.
"Those are death threats. You never know," Kanter told The Crossover, when asked how seriously he takes the threats. "I know they cannot do (anything) in America, but if I was in any other country in the world besides America, I would be really worried."
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been on a campaign to expand his authoritative powers, purge dissenters, and control the press since a military coup sought (and failed) to remove him from office in July of 2016, after which he declared a state of emergency.
According to Human Rights Watch, "the weakening of safeguards against abuse in detention under the state of emergency was accompanied by increased reports of torture and ill-treatment in police detention, such as beating and stripping detainees, use of prolonged stress positions, and threats of rape, as well as threats to lawyers and interference with medical examinations."
Kanter, who has called Erdogan "the Hitler of our century," has learned to live with the threats to his personal safety, and refuses to be cowed into silence.
"I'm not a journalist, I'm not a politician or anything, my job is to play basketball," Kanter said. "But when I look at it, this is bigger than basketball, this is bigger than NBA. All these coaches, my friends, my teammates, ask like, 'What are you doing? Just stop talking and just live your life.' But there is a hundred thousand people in jail waiting for help.
"I'm trying to be the voice of all those innocent people in jail getting tortured and raped. So, it's definitely bigger than basketball, but I believe that one day people will understand how terrible the situation is in Turkey right now, and I want the world to do something about it."