The Turkish Interior Ministry has placed ex-NBA player Enes Freedom on its Most Wanted List, with a reward of up to 10 million Turkish Liras for his capture.
The government marked him as a member of the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization/Parallel State Structure.
Freedom has been a vocal critic of the Turkish government and president Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s administration.
“That makes it so dangerous,” Enes said in an interview with The New York Post. “Before the bounty, Turkish intelligence was after the people on the list, but now everyone is after them because they want the money.”
He said the Turkish government is “really sick of” whenever he speaks up and they “are doing whatever they can to shut me up.”
Enes has been living in exile in the United States for the past few years. He added that he had increased his personal security since the bounty was announced.
“I’m not the only one. There are so many innocent journalists, academics, athletes, activists, and educators on this list. Now their lives are in danger because of the Turkish government,” Kanter Freedom told Turkish Minute.
Freedom also stated that he has plans to sue the NBA, whom he claims blackballed him because of his activism.
He had regularly worn with activist captions such as “Free Tibet”, much to the NBA’s reported displeasure.
He last played in the NBA for the Boston Celtics.
Freedom’s situation is similar to that of soccer star Hakan Sukur, who also lives in the United States after being marked as a terrorist due to his criticism of Erdogan’s regime.
