It has been confirmed that the father of Oklahoma City Thunder star Enes Kanter was detained in Turkey, as part of what President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government calls an ongoing investigation into a group it refers to as the Fethullah Terrorist Organization or FETO. Many first heard the news from Kanter himself on Friday, June 2, after he posted a message on Twitter that read, "HEY WORLD. MY DAD HAS BEEN ARRESTED by Turkish government." In the message, Kanter also expressed fear that his father will be among thousands arrested and tortured under the orders of Erdogan, who he has called "the Hitler of our century."
The public will recall Enes Kanter himself recently being taken into custody for ties to the group, which has been blamed for attempting a failed coup against Erdogan that claimed the lives of 200 people last year. Kanter would be detained at a Romanian airport, and upon release with the help of the NBA and the Department of Homeland Security, issued a statement in which he claimed to be targeted for his political views. Kanter and his family are followers of a Muslim cleric by the name of Fethullah Gulen, who is an anti-Erdogan exile living in the U.S. At the time of his arrest he stated fears for his family seeing how they had been out of communication.
Kanter's father, Mehmet Kanter, is reported to have been snagged by security forces in Istanbul's Kadikoy district. After being processed he is expected to be taken to the Tekirdag province, where it is feared that he will be subjected to harsher conditions of detainment.
Source: youtube.com
