Post by DiamondThief on May 14, 2019 21:14:09 GMT -8
Blazers center Enes Kanter against a backdrop of his tweet regarding the Turkish government.
(photo credit unknown)
As a general rule, we don't typically get political on this site. For starters, the great majority of sports fans love their teams for non-political reasons. Some fans love their hometown team, teams from colleges they attended, teams they admire or some love teams just because they are successful. The same goes for fans of particular players.
We are a sports-new forum and sometimes something comes to light and is exposed even further when one of those teams, and a player on that team, is enjoying success. When that occurs, we like to help bring it to light.
Such is the case for Enes Kanter, center for the Portland Trail Blazers. Kanter is a national of Turkey who has been in the NBA now for eight seasons. He and the Blazers have just begun their Western Conference Finals series against the Golden St. Warriors (game 1 was on May 14). Kanter was acquired off waivers from the New York Knicks by the Blazers in February of the 2018-19 season. He was the third overall selection in the 2011 NBA Draft by the Utah Jazz, then traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder in the middle of the 2014-15 season. He was traded to the Knicks prior to the 2017-18 season.
With the compound fracture of starting center Jusuf Nurkic, in March of 2019, the 6'11" Kanter was immediately entered into the starting lineup and helped the Blazers become the third seed in the Western Conference heading into the playoffs. Kanter had reached the conference finals with the Thunder during the 2015-2016 seasons. Aside from forward Rodney Hood, who reached the NBA Finals with the Cleveland Cavaliers last season, Kanter is the only Blazer to experience a run this deep in the playoffs.
However, In his home country of Turkey, he is considered a terrorist. This is not because of any nefarious activity on his part. Unless, criticizing the current president and his authoritarianism regime is considered an act of terror. In a democracy, it certainly is not. However, in an authoritarian government, criticizing the president of a government and that government in general is considered by that president as an act of terror. In 2017, Kanter's Turkish passport was revoked and Turkey embassy. This came after he had criticized a failed coup d'etat attempt, calling the Turkish president the "Hitler of our century." The Turkish government also has issued an arrest warrant for Kanter and accused him as being a member of a terror group. Its president also requested Interpol issue a "Red Line" arrest warrant for him.
This story of the current Turkish government is available online through various search engines. My intent for this entry is to give an overview, not to delve heavily into Turkish politics. For the purposes of this entry, I will not be mentioning nor referring to the Turkish president by name. Frankly, while we are a small site, something such as an authoritarian dictator's name should never be seen on our pages.
Kanter's comments were chronicled by the man himself in the The Player's Tribune on May 23, 2017, summarized by The Washington Post:
"I hope people around the world will open their eyes to the human rights abuses. Things have gotten very bad over the last year. This is not my opinion. We don’t know everything that is happening inside Turkey, but we do know some facts. Newspapers and media have been restricted. Academics have been fired. Peaceful protesting is not allowed. Many people have been imprisoned without any real charges. There are reports of torture and rape and worse."
Kanter is working through the United States immigration process to become a citizen. With no longer a passport, he felt fear of this arrest in an earlier season Knicks' game this season to be played in London. He did not travel with the team, feeling that he could be arrested on the Interpol warrant. After being acquired by the Blazers, he did not travel with the Blazers to face the Toronto Raptors in Canada for the same reason.
Should Kanter and the Blazers defeat the Warriors in the Western Conference Finals, they would face either the Raptors or the Milwaukee Bucks in the NBA Finals. Against either team the Blazers would be the road team, meaning that the first two games (and fifth and seventh games, if necessary), would be away from Portland; possibly in Canada. Should the Raptors win, that would mean the possibility of two to four games in Canada.
Blazers head coach Terry Stotts, Oregon Senator Ron Wyden and center Enes Kanter.
(Photo via Oregonlive.com)
Oregon Senator Ron Wyden wrote a letter on May 14 to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau regarding the possibility of the Blazers facing the Raptors. Key portions of that letter follow:
“Since being drafted into the NBA in 2011, Mr. Kanter has used his public platform to criticize Turkey’s President, {redacted by SCtoC}. President {redacted by SCtoC} responded by revoking Mr. Kanter’s passport in punishment and accusing him of supporting terrorists.
”He also shamelessly asked Interpol to issue a red notice, threatening Mr. Kanter’s freedom should he venture outside the United States,. As a result, Mr. Kanter did not travel to Canada for an NBA game in March 2019. If the Portland Trail Blazers and the Toronto Raptors both reach the NBA Finals, Mr. Kanter will again have to consider the security risks associated with work-related travel outside the United States.
"I have instructed my staff to work with our administration to ensure that Mr. Kanter could travel safely to Canada and return unimpeded in the event of a Portland-Toronto NBA series. I urge your government to ensure the same with respect to Mr. Kanter’s ability to enter Canada, play in Canada and then return safely and expeditiously to the United States.
“I also urge you to state publicly that your government will ignore any red notice against Mr. Kanter. Doing so would send a strong message to President {redacted by SCtoC} and any other government that seeks to use international organizations to silence critics or settle political scores.”
You can view Senator Wyden's full official letter below. Note that there are two separate pages (for best results, right click and open in new tab or window for each of them):
Kanter has been embraced by Trail Blazers fans, not only for his stellar offensive play and rebounding, but also for his political and family resolve. A great majority see him as doing the right thing; striving for democracy while denouncing the authoritarianism of his home country's government. Fans love his effort, his gracious smile and the fact he played an integral part of the Blazers' seven-game series win over the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference Semifinals. Not to mention he did it with while being hampered with a separated shoulder which he injured in the Blazers' game 5 series win over his former Thunder in the First Round.
Fans, including this one, are thankful our team had a guy who could step into Nurkic's shoes and be a factor as the Blazers make their deepest playoff run in 19 seasons. He seems to have embraced Portland as well. While NBA off-seasons are typically turbulent and with Kanter on the final year of his contract, there are those wondering if the Blazers have a chance at retaining the very likable and hard-working center given the financial situation of the team (we won't get into the salary cap here). Fans would love to keep him in the Rose City and Kanter would seem to want to stay with the team and city which embraced him from day one.
It appears (or seems, as I've been using it), that Kanter would love to stay in the Rose City. But, he misses some people. He has a younger brother, Kerem, who plays basketball in Lithuania. Kerem played in the United States for Wisconsin-Green Bay and Xavier previously. He also spent time playing at the IMG Academy, a few years before Enes' current teammate, rookie guard Anfernee Simons played there. Kanter still has parents and a younger sister in Turkey with whom, due to his government's declaration of his politics, he is unable to communicate.
The Turkish government controls the media. They allow broadcasts of sporting events but again, due to their declaration of Enes Kanter, they will not allow broadcasts of his games. That means that his family will not be allowed to watch their son and brother play for the Blazers against the Warriors. In fact, any game in which Kanter is participating is banned by the Turkish state media. It is unknown whether some find another way to reach into a game in which he is playing nor if the state media would show games in which he had been ruled out due to injury. Kanter did not play in the Blazers season finale, as head coach Terry Stotts rested his primary rotation players in a win over the Sacramento Kings. Simons scored a career high 37 points in the win which, inevitably, helped secure the third seed. I do not know that upon finding that Kanter would not play if that game was allowed to be shown in Turkey.
May 12 was Mother's Day. Enes Kanter loves his mom. He loves his family. He knows his comments have prevented them from seeing him play. He ia not able to communicate with them. That said, Kanter reached out on twitter with a heartfelt message to her. He asked anyone with means to get the message to his mother. Some fans in the comments called on others, such as comedian and talk show host Ellen Degeneres to aid in that effort. Turkey celebrates Mother's Day. Her son wanted to wish her just that and to tell her he loves her. His heartfelt tweet:
Personally speaking, I like to think she received his message. Possibly, as an optimist, I like to think he received word that she did. Judging from the comments, scores of fans in Rip City, and from his former teams, as well as those in Portland, are wishing the same.
There is no official word on the receipt of Senator Ron Wyden's request from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau nor his office, as of this writing.
Enes Kanter is a hard-working NBA player. He is a blue-collar worker. As I mentioned before, he is known for his offense and rebounding. This playoffs, he also is being recognized for his effort on defense. Effort is sometimes an objective word. When it comes to Kanter's intensity and effort on the court, there is no objectivity. He is an effortless player on the court. He can post up bigger centers and make things happen. He's a better passer than most realize. Regardless of his future, his effort in any facet of the game should never be questioned.
Off the court, he is conscientious and aware of not only what is going on around him, but of what is going on back at home. He has a platform and he intends to use it for good. It has cost him dearly already. I'm not sure as I finalize this entry if Enes' message has gotten to his mother, nor if he has gotten confirmation that she has. That might be too much to ask at this point.
In that message above, he asks her to be proud of her son. While I don't intend to project that answer, I would tell her she should be extremely proud of him. I believe Blazers fans feel the same.
-Angi
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