As the Washington Wizards and New York Knicks rolled into town for the NBA’s ninth London game, the league’s commissioner, Adam Silver, offered his full backing to Knicks’ Turkish center Enes Kanter – who stayed in the US amid reports that Turkey had requested an Interpol red notice for his extradition and arrest on terrorism charges.
Kanter, who denies all charges, has been heavily critical of Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, calling him the “Hitler of our Century”. The Turkish authorities in turn have accused the NBA star – whose team lost 101-100 to the Wizards – of having links with an armed group behind a failed coup in the country in 2016.
Last month Kanter decided to miss the Knicks’ trip to London fearing he could be “killed by Turkish spies” – and his apprehension only increased on Wednesday when a Turkish state news agency revealed the country was seeking an international warrant for his arrest.
But when Silver was asked about the case at a press conference before the Knicks v Wizards game, he made it clear where his sympathies lay. “I think it is very unfortunate that Enes Kanter is not here with the New York Knicks but I absolutely understand his reasoning why he elected not to come,” he said.
“There is nothing more important to me as the commissioner in the league than security and safety of our players, even if it is just on social media, so we take very seriously the threats that he received.”
Silver also made it clear that the NBA had not intervened to urge Kanter to stay away from London. “There are significant issues that he is dealing with, and I recognise that for the NBA, by virtue of the fact that we’re a global business, we have to pay a lot of attention to those issues as well,” he continued. “I support Enes as a player in this league and I support the platform that our players have to speak out on issues that are important to them.”
On Wednesday Kanter admitted he felt “trapped” in the US because of the international warrant for his arrest and reiterated he did not feel safe coming to Britain.
“Erdogan’s long arms are everywhere, so that’s why I didn’t really feel safe to go to London,” he said. “The Turkish government put a red notice under my name with Interpol when my team was on the flight, still in the air, so if I went to London, as soon as I left the plane they would send me back to Turkey.”
Kanter, who supports the Turkish preacher Fethullah Gulen who Turkey blames for being behind the 2016 coup, also denied being a terrorist. “The only thing I terrorise is the rim,” he wrote on Twitter.
Last week the Knicks center said he received “hundreds and hundreds” of death threats every day and that he was risking his family’s life by speaking out. “It’s worth it because what I’m doing is way bigger than myself because I’m trying to be the voice of all those innocent people,” he added. “I’m risking everyone I love around me to do only one thing – stand up for human rights, stand up for freedom and stand up for democracy.”