New York Knicks big man Enes Kanter's father had no other option but to disown his son. Given Kanter's open criticism of the Turkish government, Mehmet Kanter told a Turkish newspaper of his decision to disown his son. Furthermore, his relatives in Turkey cannot have any sort of communication with him.
As Kanter told ESPN's Ian Begley in an interview, disowning him did not end his family's problems.
“Last time they came to my house in Turkey to take my dad away, they took all the electronics in my house. My little brother was telling me about this. They took laptops, they took the computers, they took the cell phones. They searched them to see if I was still contacting my family. If they found one word, like saying, ‘Hey mom' or ‘How are you doing today?' then they would say, ‘OK, they're in contact with Enes, so let's put them in jail.' My dad was in jail for seven days.”
Kanter understands the situation his family is in, as disowning him was the only true option:
“Before [disowning Kanter], my dad got fired from his job. He was a genetics professor. My dad's siblings got fired. People were saying some crazy stuff to him on the streets. My little brother was telling me that when he went to the supermarket, they spit in his face. They said, ‘What kind of son do you have?' … So if they didn't make that statement, not just my dad by my whole family would be in jail.”
The Knicks center also added he would love returning to Turkey as soon as that government is overthrown. Kanter feels closer to home in New York.
“That's why New York is the best place to be because everywhere you go there's Turkish people, your friends are here, you can go to eat Turkish food every day.”
Enes Kanter appears to have found a second home and he even declared that he wanted to retire as a New York Knick.
