U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden today urged Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to ensure Enes Kanter can travel safely to and from Canada, should the Portland Trail Blazers and the Toronto Raptors advance to the NBA Finals.
Wyden’s letter on behalf of Kanter, a Turkish national playing for the Trail Blazers, comes after Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has retaliated repeatedly against Kanter for using his freedom of expression to criticize his home country’s increasingly authoritarian government.
Among those retaliations were the Turkish government’s revocation of Kanter’s passport in 2017 and its demand that INTERPOL issue a “red notice” for Kanter.