7
22
Oklahoma City Thunder center Enes Kanter, who said he was detained in Romania on Saturday morning after his passport was cancelled by the Turkish government, has been allowed to leave the country and is in London, the NBA said.
The Turkish native and six-year NBA veteran said he would offer more details at a press conference on Sunday in New York.
Kanter, who turned 25 on Saturday, had said in a video posted to Twitter on Saturday morning that police officers have “been holding us here for hours” upon arrival to Bucharest on a flight from Indonesia, where he was visiting as part of a global tour for his charitable foundation.
The 6ft 11in post man, who has become a high-profile critic of the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, said his passport was “canceled” due to his political beliefs.
“The reason behind it is just, of course, my political views,” Kanter said, “and the guy who did it is Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the president of Turkey.”