A Turkish prosecutor has called for an American basketball player to be arrested for insulting president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, state-run Anadolu news agency reported Wednesday.
Enes Kanter, who lives in the United States and plays for the New York Knicks, is accused of insulting president Erdogan on Twitter.
Kanter responded to the call for his arrest by tweeting “I have said less than that honorless [man] deserves. Add another 4 years for me, master” along with screenshots of media reports on the indictment.
Turkey revoked Kanter’s passport earlier this year and issued an arrest warrant, calling him a “fugitive” for his support of Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara accuses of masterminding a failed coup in July 2016. Ankara has repeatedly called on the United States to extradite Gulen, who denies any involvement with the failed coup.
Kanter called Erdogan the “Hitler of our century” at a news conference after being detained in Romania when authorities learned his passport had been revoked.
Under emergency rule introduced last year following the botched military coup, more than 50,000 people have been arrested and 150,000 others have lost their jobs.
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