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AsTurkeys president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan takes extraordinary steps to consolidate power and to crush dissent within his country. Here in the United States, Oklahoma City Thunder star and Turkish native Enes Kanter has been unafraid to speak out against the undermining of democratic institutions withinhis home country. His basketball stardom has afforded Kanter a platform most Turks dont have, giving his criticism of the Turkish government more weight. Thats too much for a strongman like Erdogan to take. So the Turkish government tried to silence Kanter just this past weekend once and for all, and now the basketball star is opening up about the oppression he and other Turks face with Erdogan in power.

The harassment of Kanter came to a head on his latest trip abroad. With his NBAseason over, Kanter has been traveling around the world, hosting basketball camps with his foundation. When he wasin Indonesia, Kanters manager knocked on his hotel room door in the middle of the night and said they needed to talk. He told me the Turkish government has called Indonesia and told them Enes Kanter is a dangerous man, Kanter says. The army and secret service were going to shut down his camp, and they needed to get out of the country.

They fled to Romania, the site of his next scheduled event, on the earliest flight they could board. But as he tried to enter Romania, he found the Turkish government had revoked his passport. He worried that he would deported back to Turkey and jailed by Erdogan. WhileRomanian policedetained him, he filmed a video for Twitter to let the world know what was happening.

To understand Kanters objections to Erdogan, it helps to have a little background. Erdogan effortsto change Turkey from a parliamentary democracy into to a country with a strong executive have been successful. It has been part of a decades-long quest for power. In 1994, when he was elected mayor of Istanbul, he started banning alcohol sales in cafs as part of his effort to turn secular Turkey into an Islamic-dominant country. In the 2000s he founded a party that would eventually win a majority of seats in Parliament and make him prime minister. Herose to president and just as corruption investigations seemed poised to bring him down;he was able to deflect blame and quash the inquest. Since then he has been cracking down on dissent. And with his country in turmoil, last year a failed military coup gave him the political capital to seize more power. He had people fired from their jobs, jailed people deemed as coup sympathizers, and became the worlds leader ofjailing journalists.

The frightening reach of Erdogans autocratic ways were felt in America last week. He came to the States to be welcomed by friend of dictators, President Donald Trump. While he was in Washington, D.C., Kurdish immigrants protested the Turkish embassy. What happened next was truly disturbing.

The bodyguards who beat the protestors in full view of Erdogan left the country withoutconsequence. In fact, when they returned, the Turkish government demanded an apology from the United Statesfor interfering with Erdogans security detail.

Its behavior like this from Erdogan and his lackeys that has Kanter speaking out that nearly cost him his freedom this weekend, but this wasnt the beginning of the harassment.It started with him being left off the Turkish national team, despite being their best player, and has evolved into his inabilityto visitTurkey for fear of being arrestedorkilled. Andto protect family and friends back home and in order to keep Erdogan from jailing them, hes had to cut off all communications. Those family members still face harassment in Turkey. (His dadhas been spit on at the supermarketfor having a son who questions Erdogan.)

With some help from the United States, Kanter was able to leave Romania for London and then return to New York toavoid detention by Turkish authorities. Yet, it will be a while before life will be back to normal for him or his country.

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What Erdogan And The Turkish Government Are Doing To This NBA Star Is Chilling - GOOD Magazine