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Enes Kanter Freedom Has Been Placed On Turkey’s Most-Wanted Terrorists List, With $500K Bounty On His Head
Enes Freedom has remained unsigned since the Houston Rockets waived him shortly after acquiring him through a trade with the Boston Celtics in the 2022-23 season.
His value has always been predicated on being an offensive contributor and steady rebounder. But his scoring and rebounding have fluctuated in recent years, while his defense leaves much to be desired, so that the 30-year old big man has become borderline unplayable at times.
However, his declined production and poor defense may not be the only reasons why he hasn’t received any offer to play for a team since being waived.
Freedom suspected that his figure as a political activist and vocal critic of China has played a role to his unemployment, while stating that the NBA only stands by their side when it benefits them financially.
The center has always been very vocal on political topics and human rights issues, not least because of his own involvement in the politics of his native country of Turkey.
In 2017, Freedom was detained in Romania after his passport was canceled by the Turkish embassy, following him criticizing the Turkish president, Recep Erdogan.
Freedom was eventually released and was able to make it back to the US, but Turkey has issued an arrest warrant for him, claiming he is a member of a terrorist organization.
The former Celtic then immediately started his application process for U.S. citizenship, which he was granted in 2o21.
Now, the free agent has been put on Turkey’s most-wanted terrorists’ list for 2023, which goes hand in hand with Turkey publishing a $500,000 bounty on him, according to the NY Post.
“That makes it so dangerous,” Freedom, 30, told The Post. “Before the bounty, Turkish intelligence were after the people on the list, but now everyone is after them because they want the money.”
“Because of my platform, whenever I say something, it goes everywhere and the Turkish government hates that,” Freedom said. “They’re really sick of it, and they said ‘enough is enough’ and are doing whatever they can to shut me up.”
The athlete’s name appears on the Turkish Terrorist Wanted List along with actual terrorists and fellow dissidents critical of the Erdoğan regime, which has routinely defied international human rights law. The list also names more than a dozen journalists — part of a larger assault on the free press in Turkey, where the number of jailed journalists has doubled in the past year.
Freedom also revealed that having a bounty on himself, lead to him being protected, and in constant contact with law enforcement and the FBI.
“I’m being protected 24/7,” he said, adding that he is more worried for the safety of the lesser-known Turkish dissidents on Erdoğan’s list.
“I’m speaking out because I am not the only one on that list,” Freedom said of the bounty. “There are so many journalists, so many activists, and so many athletes, but they aren’t as well-known as me. They are way easier targets — and they’re alone out there.”
