House

NBA’s Enes Kanter calls out Ilhan Omar over Turkey sanctions vote

by Marty Johnson - 10/29/19 10:40 PM ET

Boston Celtics center Enes Kanter tore into Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) on Tuesday night for not voting in favor of a bill to place economic sanctions on Turkey for its military campaign against Kurdish forces in northern Syria.

Kanter, who is Turkish and has long been a vocal critic of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, tweeted that it was an “absolute disappointment and shame” that Omar was the only Democrat to vote against the measure to put sanctions on Turkey.

The NBA star continued, asserting that Omar’s actions made it seem like she was “on #DictatorErdogan’s payroll” and “working for his interests, but not for the American people and democracy!”

What an absolute disappointment and shame that the only democrat who did NOT support the Turkish bill aiming to stop the killing of innocent people is @IlhanMN who seems like on #DictatorErdogan ‘s payroll working for his interests, but not for the American people and democracy!

— Enes Kanter (@EnesKanter) October 30, 2019

The House bill had rare bipartisan support and overwhelmingly passed on Tuesday in a vote of 403-16.{mosads}

Omar had authored a Washington Post op-ed earlier this month saying she thought sanctions against Turkey would be ineffective.

Kanter has vocally clashed with Turkey’s government in the past, and his criticism of Erdoğan has led to an array of problems for the player throughout his NBA career.

In 2017, Kanter had his passport revoked in Romania and claimed later in the year that his father had been arrested by Turkish authorities.

In January, Kanter didn’t travel with the New York Knicks — his team at the time — to London due to death threats.

Tags Enes Kanter Ilhan Omar Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Turkey