Enes Kanter Stands Up for Imprisoned Ekrem Imamoglu Amid Erdogan Tensions

The former mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, is currently in prison as thousands of protesters in Turkey demand his release. Among his supporters is Enes Kanter, a vocal critic of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Kanter, who has been declared persona non grata by the Turkish president and cannot return to his homeland due to his human rights advocacy, recently spoke on CNN about Imamoglu’s imprisonment. The NBA veteran minced no words during the interview, stating that ‘no dictator can tolerate any threat to their power.’ The 32-year-old emphasized that thousands of people in Turkey are fighting against this injustice, calling Imamoglu the greatest threat to Erdogan and someone capable of defeating him even in unfair elections. Kanter highlighted the existence of thousands of other political prisoners in Silivri Prison where Imamoglu is detained. He pointed out that this isn’t Erdogan’s first instance of imprisoning political opponents, referencing Kurdish leader Selahattin Demirtas, who remains incarcerated eight years after his arrest. Speaking about ongoing protests, Kanter stated that people are tired of Erdogan’s uninterrupted rule and desire change. The former NBA player urged international actors, particularly the U.S. and EU, to take a firm stance against Erdogan’s regime or risk seeing NATO’s ally completely destroyed.