After being arrested last Friday by local government, the father of Oklahoma City Thunder center Enes Kanter was released from police custody in Istanbul, Turkey, place where he was detained as part of an investigation due to allegations of links to Fethullah Gulen, according to the Associated Press.
Dogan, a private news agency, said former university professor Mehmet Kanter was released Wednesday after spending five days in custody under the condition that he is to report to a police station with regularity.
Enes Kanter has been a vocal supporter of Gulen and known critic of current President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who the government in Turkey blames for a failed military coup in the summer of 2016.
Following his father's arrest, Kanter released a statement denouncing the Turkish government for their actions and urging people to take a stand.
“My father is arrested because of my outspoken criticism of the ruling party. He may get tortured for simply being my family member,” Kanter said. “For a second please think and imagine, if something like this is happening to an NBA player, what is happening to the people with no voice or podium to speak on? There could be hundreds of thousands of people that are detained, tortured, or murdered that we are not hearing about.”
Mehmet Kanter had disowned his son after he displayed an open support of Gulen.
The Thunder forward was detained at a Romanian airport on May 20 after having his Turkish passport cancelled. He was later allowed to proceed with his travel and return to the United States.
Ever since, he's pursued an American citizenship to keep this from happening again. Kanter also offered that his family and friends could be put in jail if they were to do as much as to talk to him on the phone or text him.
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