By WFAN.com
The Knicks have reportedly fielded trade offers for Enes Kanter from multiple teams, but that's not the reason Kanter won't be traveling with the team for their game in London on January 17.
New York will play the Washington Wizards at the O2 Arena without Kanter, as he is not traveling to the United Kingdom due to security concerns. The Turkish big man is an outspoken critic of authoritarian Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and is worried about his safety.
On Monday, Kanter's decision not to travel to England drew criticism on Twitter from former NBA player, and current adviser to Erdogan, Hedo Turkoglu. Turkoglu claimed that Kanter's decision was "another example of the political smear campaign Kanter has been conducting against Turkey."
Kanter didn't back down and responded on Twitter later on Monday afternoon, calling Turkoglu a "lap dog."
This is my travel document:It's NOT a visa issue!!!I CAN go to London.Either you are delusional, or still Erdogan's lap dog..Keep wagging your tail@hidoturkoglu15@RT_Erdogan #DictatorErdogan ---- pic.twitter.com/UpvEG24ayu
— Enes Kanter (@Enes_Kanter) January 7, 2019In May of 2017, Kanter's passport was cancelled by the Turkish government while he was traveling internationally. As a result, he was detained in an airport in Romania for upwards of four hours. In June of 2018, his father was arrested by the government in Turkey. Turkoglu didn't mention any of those past incidents in his statement about Kanter.
The Knicks' center has criticized the Turkish president on a number of occasions over suspected human rights violations committed under Erdogan's administration. Kanter supports Fethullah Gülen, an exiled Turkish leader who is Erdogan's adversary.
Kanter explained why he can't make the trip after the Knicks beat the Lakers on Friday night.
"Sadly, I'm not going because of that freaking lunatic, the Turkish president," Kanter said. "It's pretty sad that all the stuff affects my career and basketball because I want to be out there and help my team win. But just because of the one lunatic guy, one maniac, one dictator, I can't even go out there and do my job. It's pretty sad ... They have a lot of spies there. I could get killed there easy."
