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Turkey seeks long-term jail sentence for NBA star who called President Erdogan a 'dictator'

REPORTS in Turkey claimed yesterday that prosecutors are seeking more than four years in prison for NBA player Enes Kanter on charges of insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

An indictment prepared by the Istanbul chief prosecutor’s office accuses the New York Knicks player of insulting the president in a series of tweets he posted in May and June 2016.

Kanter, who is in the United States, would be tried in absentia.

The player is a vocal supporter of Fethullah Gulen, the US-based cleric blamed by Turkey for last year’s failed military coup.

Kanter was detained in Romania on May 20 because his Turkish passport was cancelled. He said he was able to return to the United States after US officials intervened.

Kanter, then a member of the Oklahoma City Thunder, posted a video from the airport in which he called Erdogan a “dictator” and “the Hitler of our century.”

In November, Kanter tweeted out a picture of himself flaunting his Turkish passport while flying to Toronto, tagging Erdogan in the post and adding the hashtag “Dictator Erdogan.”

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