Celtics' Enes Kanter says father is out of Turkish prison
On Friday morning, Boston Celtics center Enes Kanter tweeted that his father was released from a prison in Turkey after seven years:
As ESPN's Tim Bontemps explained, Kanter, who first began his NBA career during the 2011-12 season, has long been an outspoken opponent of the authoritarian Turkish government led by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Bontemps added that Kanter's Turkish passport was revoked in 2017 and that the big man once feared to leave the United States due to the possibility that he could be deported back to Turkey.
According to Bleacher Report's Adam Wells, Kanter's father, Dr. Mehmet Kanter, was sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2018 after he was charged with "membership in a terror group" because of an alleged relationship with Fethullah Gulen, who was held responsible for a failed coup in 2016.
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