Enes Kanter: Enemy of the State

ESPN Daily

ESPN

Sports

4.6 • 3.9K Ratings

🗓️ 21 August 2020

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In a time when athletes everywhere are speaking out about causes that are personal to them, perhaps no one has risked more...and been more outspoken...than Boston Celtics center Enes Kanter. Kanter grew up in Turkey, which has been embroiled in a years-long fight over leadership of the nation. Kanter became involved in Turkish politics when he voiced support for Fethullah Gulen, a US based Muslim cleric who was blamed for a coup attempt by Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Since the coup attempt, the Turkish government has cracked down on anyone with ties to Gulen, and has sought to extradite Kanter back to Turkey where he would almost certainly face severe punishment. Jeremy Schaap reported on Kanter's struggles for E:60 last year, and joins the show to discuss his findings. Then, Enes Kanter himself brings us his firsthand perspective on what it's like being a fugitive from his homeland. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	When I say anything about the government, it goes everywhere, all over the world and they hate it.
0:11.0	My problem is now with my country, my problem is with the regime.
0:20.0	At a time when athletes everywhere are taking up social causes personal to them,
0:24.6	perhaps none of them have spoken louder or risked more than the Celtics and his Cantor.
0:30.6	On the court, Cantor is currently facing the Philadelphia 76ers.
0:36.6	But off it, he's become arguably the world's most outspoken critic of the government of his
0:42.0	native country of Turkey, a stance that has cost him his citizenship, his connection with his
0:47.0	family, and has even threatened his life.
0:52.8	Today, ESPN's Jeremy Shapp, who's reported on Cantor's story from Turkey,
0:57.5	explains how Cantor wound up in the middle of a fight for the future of his nation.
1:02.1	And later, Ennis Cantor himself joins the show
1:05.6	to explain why he's considered an enemy of the state in Turkey
1:09.2	and why he's chosen to risk everything to speak out.
1:13.8	I'm Pablo Torre. It's Friday, August 21st. This is ESPN Daily.
1:22.3	Jeremy Shapp, we're going to talk to Ennis Cantor himself later in this episode, but I first wanted to talk to you
1:28.5	specifically because you did cover Cantor's story really in depth for E60 last year. And by now,
1:35.7	I suppose a lot of American NBA fans are vaguely aware that Cantor is deep into this long-running
1:41.5	feud with the government of Turkey, his native country.
1:49.9	But most fans also probably couldn't explain what that feud is actually about.
1:55.2	So let's start off broadly because protests of all kinds have become kind of relatively commonplace in the NBA.
1:57.1	What about Cantor's situation here makes this so unique?
2:03.9	Well... what about Cantor's situation here makes this so unique? Well, here we have a well-established NBA player, who is one of the most famous athletes
	...

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