He’s an NBA player who risked his own career for the freedom of others. He’s an activist working to give voice to oppressed people around the world, regardless of religion, belief, ideology, or ethnicity. He’s an athlete who’s willing to turn down contracts worth tens of millions of dollars just to persevere in his endeavors.

I’m talking about NBA player Enes Kanter FREEDOM.

While playing in the NBA, he took every opportunity he could get, appearing on television, and striving to raise awareness of human rights issues in various parts of the world. Enes Kanter’s statements garnered so much public attention that Simon & Schuster, a respected US-based publishing house, offered him a book detailing his narrative. The book, titled “IN THE NAME OF FREEDOM” was recently released. I had pre-ordered it months ago.

The publisher describes the book on its website as follows:
A riveting story of personal hardship, the cost of political dissent, and the quest for justice that recounts how NBA star Enes Kanter Freedom became a leading activist for human rights around the world.
Enes Kanter Freedom was born to play basketball. But he risked it all when he realized that his voice could be a force for change. In the Name of Freedom tells the story of how Enes Kanter, a boy with a dream in Turkey, became Enes Freedom, an American citizen, a Nobel Peace Prize nominee, and a fierce advocate for human rights—and the price he paid for speaking out. Enes refused to stand by as his native country descended into authoritarian dictatorship. He made his opinion known and the Erdogan regime declared him an enemy of state. His father, still in Turkey, was arrested and declared a terrorist. Enes’s Turkish passport was revoked and he was made stateless.
The experience would have broken most advocates. But it only encouraged Enes, who realized that standing for human rights was bigger than basketball. Enes soon became one of the country’s fiercest fighters for human rights. He took on the NBA for turning a blind eye to China’s persecution of the Uyghurs. He even called out Lebron James, the game’s biggest star, for using Chinese labor in his Nike shoe deal as the Chinese government cracked down on political freedoms in Hong Kong.
Timely and gripping, In the Name of Freedom puts a human face on the fight for liberty and democracy.

We are experiencing the same fate as Enes Kanter..
Enes Kanter is a symbolic figure. Not only his family, friends, and associates, but millions of people in Turkey share his fate. The Erdoğan regime accuses anyone who doesn’t support it of being a terrorist. Artists, athletes, and journalists who don’t support the government are imprisoned on fabricated charges. One of Erdoğan’s most formidable rivals was Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu. However, the regime revoked his university degree, which he earned 30 years ago, to prevent him from running in the upcoming elections.

Selahattin Demirtaş, a prominent figure in Kurdish politics who previously ran against Erdoğan, remains in prison for nearly 10 years. Parties and individuals who have a chance of being elected against Erdoğan are being punished. In recent months, operations to remove and imprison mayors from major cities under opposition control have intensified. Pro-regime figures are being appointed in their place. Seizures targeting opposition media and arrests of journalists continue. Fatih Altaylı, a highly viewed journalist with millions of YouTube followers, has been imprisoned. Even the slightest criticism of the regime is punishable by imprisonment.

Enes Kanter as a man of peace..

Enes Kanter doesn’t see sports merely as a competitive arena. He believes it can also serve as a platform for peace, bringing together different worlds. According to Wikipedia, Enes Kanter organized 16 free basketball camps in the United States during the summer of 2018. That same year, he launched a fundraising campaign for wildfire victims in Greece. Since 2019, he has held more than 50 free basketball camps annually. By the end of 2023, Kanter has announced plans to establish basketball schools worldwide, bringing together Christians, Muslims, and Jews to play basketball. In fact, in a video I watched recently, he explained how Palestinian and Israeli children didn’t even pass or greet each other during the first few days of play, but later became very close friends.

Enes Kanter was invited to the US Congress and his views on human rights violations around the world were heard. The US Congress website provides the following information about him:

Enes Kanter Freedom. Former NBA Player and Human Rights Activist Enes Kanter Freedom is a human rights activist, NBA star, and Nobel Peace Prize nominee who lost his NBA career for speaking out against human rights violations in China. Raised in Turkey, Freedom began to call out human rights violations by President Erdogan in his home country. Turkey then canceled his passport, put his name on Interpol’s list, imprisoned his father, and set a $500,000 bounty on his head. During a 2017 visit to Indonesia, Freedom was nearly kidnapped by the government with intentions to send him back to Turkey. Later that year, he barely escaped police officers in a Romanian airport that the Turkish government sent after him.

In nine years, Freedom received 12 arrest warrants issued by the Turkish government and countless death threats. After debuting his “Anti-CCP” shoes during the season opener, every Celtics game was banned in China and Turkey. In many interviews and with the art on his “Freedom Shoes”, he has spoken out for the rights of Uyghurs, Tibetans, Hongkongers, Taiwanese, and others facing Chinese oppression. In February 2022 he was traded from the Boston Celtics to the Houston Rockets, who waived him. The NBA is reluctant to sign him for speaking out against China, and continuously try to silence him. Seven years after having his Turkish citizenship revoked, Freedom became an American citizen. While becoming a citizen, he changed his last name to Freedom. Freedom has become a voice for the oppressed in Turkey, China, Russia, Iran, and more countries worldwide..

About the book…

Enes Kanter’s book, Freedom, is an autobiographical narrative. It covers his childhood in Türkiye and his basketball dreams. It also covers the authoritarianism under the Erdoğan regime, the revocation of his citizenship, and the oppression of his family. His efforts as a human rights activist during his NBA career, the price he paid as a political dissident, and his struggle for freedom.

I hope the book receives the attention it deserves from readers. I’m also considering inviting him to our city.

Amazon link for ordering; http://bit.ly/4iWIZ6l

By Prof. Dr. Osman OZSOY