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Turkish NBA center Enes Kanter dismisses report that Turkey has issued a warrant for his arrest
Thomson Reuters
By Ece Toksabay and Gina Cherelus
ANKARA/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Enes Kanter, the Turkish NBA star whose home country has revoked his passport, on Friday dismissed a report that Turkey's government had issued a warrant for his arrest.
"You can’t catch me. Don’t waste your breath. I will come on my own will anyway, to spit on your ugly, hateful faces," Kanter said in a Twitter post. A photo of a story by Turkish newspaper Sabah about the arrest warrant accompanied his post.
Kanter's agent, the National Basketball Association player's union and representatives for the Oklahoma City Thunder, Kanter's team, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Kanter was named a "fugitive" by a Turkish court for his support of U.S-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since 1999, according to the newspaper's report on Friday.
A representative of the prosecutor's office in Istanbul declined to comment and Turkey's Ministry of Justice was not available to comment.
The investigation of Kanter was reportedly coordinated and carried out by Istanbul prosecutors. The court's ruling had determined Kanter was allegedly a user of ByLock, a secure communication application for smartphones that was used by an organization in support of Gulen and supposedly during a failed coup against Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan last July, Sabah reported.
The court also said Kanter was sharing messages praising the organization on social media and said he was called to testify multiple times but refused, making him a fugitive who should be arrested, according to the Turkish newspaper.
The prosecutor's office also requested that the Justice Ministry contact officials to issue a red notice for Kanter, which would prevent him from traveling, Sabah reported.
Kanter returned to the United States on Sunday after being detained in Romania on May 20 when authorities learned his passport had been revoked. He lashed out at Erdogan at a news conference in New York on Monday, calling him the "Hitler of our century."
The 6-foot-11-inch center was traveling on a charity and promotional tour. He currently holds a U.S. green card allowing him to live and work in the country on a permanent basis.
In an April referendum, Turks narrowly backed constitutional changes that gave new powers to Erdogan, including control over the Islamist AKP Party. It was viewed by critics as an authoritative power grab.
(Reporting by Ece Toksabay; Writing and additional reporting by Gina Cherelus; Editing by Dan Grebler)
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