The family of one of the most prominent Turkish basketball players in the NBA on Tuesday publicly disowned him after he openly supported the US-based preacher who Ankara blames for last month’s failed coup.
Enes Kanter, 24, a centre for the NBA outfit Oklahoma City Thunder, has backed exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen in Twitter postings after the attempted putsch aimed at ousting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Since the coup, Turkey has embarked on a massive purge of all elements linked to Gulen from a range of institutions, detaining or sacking of tens of thousands of people.