The Thunder center has publicly criticized Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan for years, while supporting exiled cleric Fetullah Gulen. Kanter was publicly disowned by his family last August in what many thought was a necessary attempt to avoid backlash in Turkey. He was cut off from direct communication between his mother and father, relying on his brother, who plays college basketball in the U.S., for news from back home.

Two weeks ago, Kanter had his passport canceled by Turkey while he was abroad. He was detained at a Romanian airport until being brought home with help from the U.S. government and NBA leadership. Last week, Turkey issued an arrest warrant for Enes claiming he was a member of a “terror group.”

Kanter wants to become an American citizen and can do so after being a permanent resident in the U.S. for five years or three years if he marries a U.S. citizen. He currently holds a green card which will allow him to travel to Canada for NBA games without a passport.

Kanter released this statement on Friday: 

","published":"2017-06-02T17:57:26.000Z","updated":"2017-06-03T03:50:23.000Z","summary":"

Enes Kanter announced his father has been arrested by the Turkish government on Friday, tweeting that Mehmet Kanter could be tortured along with thousands of others. The Thunder center has publicly criticized Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan for years, while supporting exiled cleric Fetullah Gulen. Kanter was publicly disowned by his family last August in what many thought was a necessary attempt to avoid backlash in Turkey. He was cut off from direct communication between his ...

","affiliate":{"_id":"5cc353fe1c9d440000d3b70f","callSign":"kwtv","origin":"https://www.news9.com"},"contentClass":"sports_nba","createdAt":"2020-01-31T21:37:29.237Z","updatedAt":"2022-03-30T22:06:51.934Z","__v":2,"show":true,"link":"/story/5e349e19527dcf49dad83a48/enes-kanter-says-father-arrested-in-turkey","hasSchedule":false,"id":"5e349e19527dcf49dad83a48"};