Top 33 Enes Kanter Quotes

I’m not a criminal or a radical. I’m not ‘dangerous.’ I’m a human being with opinions and beliefs that I have a right to express.

I understand my mother and father and sister are in Turkey, but if I stop talking, who is going to speak for the thousands and thousands of innocent people in jail?

My father has been targeted for persecution by the Turkish government and its leader, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, because of his association with me.

After I see in OKC, I see this is how NBA teams are. You know how you’re like in a dream and you have a superpower and just don’t want to open your eyes and end the dream? Oklahoma City’s been like that to me.

What am I doing, just playing basketball? It was eating at me. Because basketball, you play, you retire, you’re done. I wanted to do something more.

The Turkish government is very famous for hunting down those who oppose Erdogan… I just didn’t really want to risk my life by going to Europe where Erdogan’s long arms are everywhere.

You still miss Turkish people, talking Turkish, you still miss your culture. That’s why New York is the best place to be because everywhere you go there’s Turkish people, your friends are here, you can go to eat Turkish food every day.

When I look back at my basketball career, I want to say I tried to inspire as much as I could.

I have a prominent platform and I want to use it to promote respect for human rights, democracy, and personal freedom. For me, this is bigger than basketball.

I’m an NBA player with no shoe deal. No endorsement deal. And I play in New York!

I mean, Turkey is my country. You know, it’s my flag. That is where we’re raised… My family is born there. So that’s why, like, it’s tough to see that… your country don’t want you.

If you win in New York, you’re the king of the world.

Some of my teammates and coaches don’t understand what I’m doing by speaking out, but they support me, for which I am grateful. They have become part of my surrogate family here in the United States.

My friends and family in Turkey could be arrested just for talking to me.

When I stepped in America outside of the plane, I said, ‘I came home.’

My job is to go out there and play as hard as I can. Because the fans are paying so much money to come and see the game.

May 20, 2017, was one of the scariest days of my life. It was the day I realized I was being hunted by Erdogan.

When I say all of this stuff about Turkey, people don’t understand. They think I don’t like Turkey. I love Turkey. I love my people. I love Turkish food and everything. But my problem is with the government.

Before I go to those teams, I say, ‘Hey, I’m a Muslim and I have to pray five times a day.’ And they respect it so much that they give me a prayer room. So before the game, after the game, before practice, before I fly out, I can go to that room whenever I want and pray.

Our team security said, even if you go to a supermarket, have someone with you. So everywhere I go – grocery shopping, practice, go to games, go to plays – I always have someone with me because you never know, a lone wolf, one of the crazy Erdogan supporters will do something.

I was a really good student, first, second grade, third grade, and then fourth grade a little bit. And then I don’t know what happened. I became a very terrible student. I wish I took it more serious.

I’m 26 years old, I’m not some 43-year-old who’s just gonna watch TV all day. Of course I want to go out there, hang out with teammates, hang out with people I love, go to the beach, go hang out!

People often ask me why I continue to speak out if it’s hurting my family. But that’s exactly why I speak out. The people Erdogan is targeting are my family, my friends, my neighbors, my classmates. I need to speak out, or my country will suffer in silence.

When I think about America, I think about freedom. Freedom of speech, freedom of religion. It’s a peaceful country.

I’m definitely happy that I’m part of the Oklahoma City team, a winner team, so I think it’s going to go really well in the future.

I have the travel documents. I have a green card. I can go anywhere.

The N.B.A. provides a big platform to shed light on the human rights violations in Turkey and gives a voice to the thousands of people persecuted.

If I’m in America, I’m safe. I feel very safe. But if I step outside of America, it will be a very dangerous situation.

I’ve been to playoffs before. That should be everybody’s goal is the playoffs.

I put out on Twitter that the only thing I terrorize is the rim. People know me, my teammates know me, everybody knows me.

The only time I have fun is when I’m on the court.

My faith in Islam is not unlike my faith in the game of basketball: Both require immense determination, focus, passion and discipline.

It was just a normal family. We were playing basketball, we were playing soccer. It was home-cooked meals, just peaceful and happy times.