Turkish prosecutors are seeking more than four year of prison time for New York Knicks center Enes Kanter for insulting Turkish president Recep Tayipp Erdogan on Twitter, according to The Associated Press.
Turkish prosecutors want Enes Kanter to face 4-year prison sentence for insulting their president
Kanter has been very outspoken on his views on Turkish president Erdogan, who he called “the Hitler of our century.”
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The insults in question date back to a series of tweets from May and June 2016, including one which featured a video of Kanter calling Erdogan “the Hitler of our century.”
“What’s up world, just wanted to say we are in Romania,” he says in the video. “They said they canceled my passport by Turkish embassy. They’ve been holding us here for hours by these two police. You know, the reason behind it is just of course my political views. The guy who did it is ... the president of Turkey. ... He’s attacked people in Washington. He’s a bad, bad man. He’s a dictator. And he’s the Hitler of our dcentury.”
When told of the possible jail time, Katrer said, “Only four years? That’s it? For all of the trash I’ve been talking?” according to ESPN’s Ian Begley.
Kanter was detained at an airport in Romania in May 2016 and had his passport revoked for publicly criticizing the president on social media. Days later, Turkish police arrested his father, Mehmet Kanter, and raided his home.
He will not be present for the trial; instead, he’ll be tried in absentia. Kanter’s representatives have not responded to SB Nation’s request for comment.
Enes Kanter has appeared in 27 games for New York this season and is averaging 13.2 points and 9.8 rebounds per game.
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