Turkish-American basketball player claims to face persecution from Erdoğan's government

Enes Kanter, also known as Enes Freedom since he became a U.S. citizen, is a Turkish basketball player who played in the NBA for more than 10 years. However, these days he is not in the news for his dunks or his rebounds, rather due to his experience being persecuted and receiving death threats from assassins allegedly hired by his country's government.

The basketball player opposes the policies of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and has long expressed this discontent publicly, which in 2016 resulted in an arrest warrant from Turkey and the cancellation of his passport. Now, the situation has worsened, as Kanter recently spoke about the death threats he receives daily through social media.

The player posted several screenshots of a chat in which an individual claims that he hired a hitman to assassinate him and assures him that he will hear from him shortly. "These are just a few of the hundreds of death threats I have received in the last couple of days," he wrote.

Despite the dangerous situation, Kanter, who is currently a free agent, maintains his stance and continues to denounce his country's head of state:

The basketball player, who has played for the Utah Jazz, Oklahoma City Thunder, New York Knicks, among other top teams, was classified as a terrorist by Turkish authorities. In fact, the government is offering more than $500,000 to anyone who assists in his capture.

Kanter, who refused to travel to London, England, for a game with the Knicks for fear of being captured, is considered a political activist and has spoken out on a number of sensitive issues. He also criticized China for its policies in Hong Kong and Tibet. In 2008, he called for a boycott of the Olympic Games in Beijing.