Enes Kanter is safe and back in the United States, and he's hoping to stay.
"(America) is my home now," the Oklahoma City Thunder center said Monday in a conference call.
He's back on U.S. soil following a scare over the weekend. He was briefly detained at a Romanian airport Saturday after Turkey canceled his passport. The country had done the same last year to tens of thousands of other Turkish citizens living abroad.
Kanter believes Turkey revoked his passport because he's been critical of President Tayyip Erdogan, whom he called the "Hitler of our century." The big man has and continues to receive death threats for the "really strong statement." Regardless, he stands by it and believes it was warranted given all the people who have been raped and killed by the regime.
The 25-year-old indicated Monday on "CBS This Morning" that the problems preceded his arrival to Romania. Shortly before, Kanter was in Indonesia during a stop of his global tour with the Enes Kanter Foundation. There, the secret services and army were on a manhunt for him because the Turkish government informed them he's a "dangerous man."
He said it would've been bad news if Turkish officials captured him:
"If they sent me back to Turkey, probably wouldn't have heard a word from me the second day. ... They'd put them in jail."
Fortunately for Kanter, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Thunder lawyers, his own attorneys, and the NBPA worked together to get him back stateside. He's grateful for all parties involved, and wants to stick around.
"Right now I am country-less," Kanter said. "I am open to adoption definitely. I am going to try to become an American citizen. I have a green card. We will see if they can speed up the process a little bit. It would definitely be nice. Right now my next move is becoming an American citizen."
The sixth-year center, who's currently in New York, has been in touch with members of the Thunder organization, though he's not sure when he'll return to OKC.
