Former NBA player Enes Kanter Freedom, a native of Turkey, is on the country’s most-wanted-terrorist list for his comments about the government’s human-rights abuses.
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government is offering up to 10 million Turkish lira, or about $500,000, for information leading to his capture, Freedom told the New York Post.
“Before the bounty, Turkish intelligence were after the people on the list, but now everyone is after them because they want the money,” Freedom said, adding that he found out about the bounty a week ago.
Freedom is a longtime critic of Erdogan, calling him a “dictator” and the “Hitler of our century.” Freedom expressed support for the coup attempt against Erdogan in 2016 and was later banned from the country as a result.
“Because of my platform, whenever I say something, it goes everywhere, and the Turkish government hates that,” he said. “They’re really sick of it, and they said, ‘Enough is enough,’ and doing whatever they can to shut me up.”
Freedom, who became an American citizen in 2021, lives in Washington, D.C., and said he is in “constant contact” with local authorities and the FBI because of his place on Turkey’s terrorist list. He said he is being “protected 24/7.”
The terrorist list includes real terrorists as well as critics of Erdogan’s critics and multiple journalists.
“I’m speaking out because I am not the only one on that list,” he told the New York Post. “There are so many journalists, so many activists, and so many athletes, but they aren’t as well-known as me. They are way easier targets — and they’re alone out there.”
Freedom, who previously played for the Boston Celtics and the New York Knicks, also told the outlet he is considering suing the NBA, accusing the league of blackballing him after his protests against China. Freedom was traded to the Houston Rockets but the team later dropped him.
“The NBA is never going to admit it, but I believe I’m being blackballed,” he said. “I’ve had many conversations, and everyone is saying the same thing: ‘Your career has ended because of your China comments.’”
“They are a 100 percent American-made organization, but they are being controlled and run by the biggest dictatorship in the world, China,” he added. “How can China fire an American citizen from an American organization? That is unacceptable.”
Freedom called out China for its treatment of Tibet in 2021, which led Chinese video-streaming site Tencent to pull the Celtics’ season opener at the time. He later wore custom shoes adorned with the phrases “Modern Day Slavery” and “No More Excuses” during a game against the Charlotte Hornets and called out Nike for its silence on injustice in China. He has also worn shoes that read “No Beijing 2022” and “Free Tibet.”
In March, NBA commissioner Adam Silver dismissed Freedom’s claims that he was being blackballed from the league.
“We spoke directly about his activities this season, and I made it absolutely clear to him that it was completely within his right to speak out on issues that he was passionate about,” Silver told the New York Times.