Enes Kanter, center for the NY KNicks, recently refused to play a game in London

[The Spin Meister]

He claimed if went there he could be killed or kidnapped by the Erdogan government. Now I know that Erdogan is one bad dude but I thought he was being paranoid and over reacting...until I read the this story.

Kanter supports a Muslim cleric in the US named Fethullah Gulen that is a sworn enemy of Erdogan. That makes Kantor an enemy too.


The Turkish government has established an agency with an extraordinarily blunt name: “Office for Human Abductions and Executions.” It is an arm of the Turkish intelligence organization, an organization known by the initials “MIT.” The country’s foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, has given out some numbers: Turkey has retrieved 104 people from 21 different countries (by whatever means). And the government has its sights on many, many more.

 

[Kmase21]

This story is several weeks old.

Some say Hedo Turkoglu is who Kanter fears.

 

[Obliviax]

 

[odshowtime]

It's nobody's business but the Turks'.

 

[SUPERTODD]

Erdogan is one bad dude. He was the foreign leader closest to our President during the Obama years. That relationship received no scrutiny because, well, I think we all know why. He was running guns all over the world to Salafist militias. One of those, Ansar al-Sharia, perpetrated the murders in Benghazi. Again no proper press scrutiny. It seems obvious in retrospect we allowed Erdogan’s Turkey to run guns to “freedom fighters” in Libya and those guns were used to murder an American diplomat and the soldiers attempting to protect him. Massive coverup ensued.

 

[LafayetteBear]

So Erdogan was threatening to grab Mr. Kanter off the street if he came to London? Just think of the headlines if Mr. Kanter's first name started with a "p."

 

[novaclassof90]

Kanter is a follower of Gulen. Erdogan wants to eliminate Gulen and all his followers. Gulen lives in a compound in Saylorsburg, PA, in the Poconos just outside of Stroudsburg.

Erdogan has pushed both Obama and Trump to extradite Gulen to Turkey. Obama refused and Trump has too thus far. Mike Flynn, who was in Erdogan's pocket, was pushing for extradition in his short time in the Trump admin and during the transition.

 

[Elwood Blues]

Good points on this thread. Sad that the previously most progressive Muslim nation and EU affiliate has become a thuggish dictatorship. This subject hasn't gotten nearly enough attn

 

[Ski]

The Turkish government has established an agency with an extraordinarily blunt name: “Office for Human Abductions and Executions.” It is an arm of the Turkish intelligence organization, an organization known by the initials “MIT.” The country’s foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, has given out some numbers: Turkey has retrieved 104 people from 21 different countries (by whatever means). And the government has its sights on many, many more.

The same Turkish government that protested what the Saudi's did to the journalist at their embassy in Turkey. Pot, meet kettle.

 

[Nitt1300]

The Turks are thugs, always have been. The difference between them and the Russians is that the Turks pretend to follow a religion and the Russians don't bother with any pretense.

 

[novaclassof90]

Had the opportunity to visit Turkey twice (2005 and 2009) and work with a bunch of Turks. I really loved the country on my two visits to Istanbul and Izmir.

If walked down the streets of Istanbul you could have thought you were in NYC or Philly. I saw more head scarfs and coverings in US cities than I did in Turkey then.

But times have changed since Erdogan took over. My friends over there and suggested not visiting.

Turkey is 90% muslim but their constitution states that there is no official national religion and that Turkey is a democracy. Its founders post-Ottoman Empire did not want a sharia law, Islamic state type of society. Erdogan is bucking their own constitution with his thuggish behavior.

 

[Art]

The Turks are thugs, always have been. The difference between them and the Russians is that the Turks pretend to follow a religion and the Russians don't bother with any pretense.

The Russian government and the Orthodox Church have realigned since the fall of communism.

 

[Art]

Had the opportunity to visit Turkey twice (2005 and 2009) and work with a bunch of Turks. I really loved the country on my two visits to Istanbul and Izmir.

If walked down the streets of Istanbul you could have thought you were in NYC or Philly. I saw more head scarfs and coverings in US cities than I did in Turkey then.

But times have changed since Erdogan took over. My friends over there and suggested not visiting.

Turkey is 90% muslim but their constitution states that there is no official national religion and that Turkey is a democracy. Its founders post-Ottoman Empire did not want a sharia law, Islamic state type of society. Erdogan is bucking their own constitution with his thuggish behavior.

If you had ventured further inland into Anatolia during your stays you would have found, even then, the Turkey that is the bulwark of Erdogan's support.

 

[Nitt1300]

The Russian government and the Orthodox Church have realigned since the fall of communism.