Enes Kanter, the NBA star whose home country, Turkey, revoked his passport over the weekend, lashed out at President Tayyip Erdogan at a news conference on Monday, calling him "the Hitler of our century" and describing himself as the victim of political retaliation.
Kanter, an outspoken Erdogan critic who plays for the National Basketball Association's Oklahoma City Thunder, returned to the United States on Sunday after being detained in Romania when authorities learned his passport had been revoked.
The 6-foot-11-inch center, whose team was eliminated from the NBA playoffs, was traveling on a charity and promotional tour.
"The reason behind it was, whoever is going to try to go against the president, he’s going to try to shut him down," Kanter said at the press conference in New York.
Kanter said he has received daily death threats, mostly over social media, including two on Monday.
He contends that Turkey revoked his travel document in retaliation for his long-time support of Fethullah Gulen, a dissident cleric who has lived in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since 1999.
Kanter said last year he had severed ties with his family and pledged allegiance to Gulen after Turkish media published a letter signed by Kanter's father, disowning his son.