Enes Kanter has been hosting dozens of free youth basketball camps across the country this offseason. The Islamic Center of Long Island in Westbury, New York, was scheduled to host one of those clinics this upcoming Sunday. However, the recently signed Celtics center announced Wednesday night that it had been canceled — and he says the Turkish government is to blame.
In a statement, Kanter said the mosque canceled the camp due to pressure from the local Turkish Consulate in New York City, in response to the 27-year-old NBA player’s long-standing criticism of his native country’s authoritarian president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.