Enes Kanter to skip Knicks' London trip out of fear he could be killed by Turkish spies

Enes Kanter to skip Knicks’ London trip out of fear he could be killed by Turkish spies

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2019/01/05/enes-kanter-skip-knicks-london-trip-out-fear-he-could-be-killed-by-turkish-spies/

Center Enes Kanter recently informed the New York Knicks he will not be traveling with the team to London later this month to take on the Washington Wizards, and that his reasoning has nothing to do with injury or illness or an unwillingness to play.

Kanter, who spent much of his childhood in Turkey and whose parents are Turkish, is afraid that if he is in London for the regular season game, he could be killed by agents of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

“Sadly, I’m not going because of that freaking lunatic, the Turkish president,” Kanter told reporters in a locker room interview Friday night that went into much more than the 16 points and 15 rebounds he had posted in the Knicks’ win over the Los Angeles Lakers. “There’s a chance that I can get killed out there. So that’s why I talked to the front office. I’m not going.”

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In May 2017, prosecutors in Turkey issued an arrest warrant accusing Kanter (he played for the Oklahoma City Thunder then) of being a member of “an armed terrorist organization,” according to AFP. Prosecutors claim he praised the organization on Twitter.

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