(IPT) Turkish NBA star Enes Kanter did not join his New York Knicks teammates when they play the Washington Wizards in London today due to his fear he could be assassinated by Turkish spies.
An Istanbul prosecutor on Tuesday drafted an extradition request and an international arrest warrant, known as an Interpol Red Notice, accusing Kanter of supporting the Gulen movement, which Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) refers to as the Fethullah Terrorist Organization (FETO).
The Gulen movement is a global Islamist movement headed by Fethullah Gulen, who lives in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Gulen once were allies. They had a falling out in 2013 after a Gulen-linked prosecutor in Istanbul opened a corruption investigation into individuals linked with Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP). Erdogan accused the Gulenists of running a “state within a state.”
