--- title: Enes Kanter Detained in Romania Over Canceled Passport description: Oklahoma City Thunder player Enes Kanter was detained for hours at an airport in Romania after the Turkish embassy canceled his passport canonical: https://time.com/4787350/enes-kanter-detained-romania-airport-turkey/ author: Aric Jenkins article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-05-20T19:35:54.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T05:02:13.503Z article:section: Sports og:title: NBA Star Enes Kanter Detained at Romanian Airport After Turkish Embassy Cancels His Passport og:description: The Oklahoma City Thunder center said it happened because of his political opposition to the Turkish president og:url: https://time.com/4787350/enes-kanter-detained-romania-airport-turkey/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6f0c58a4bec66cd3/6988ce34fb4eac272c89216f/enes-kanter-oklahoma-city-thunder.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Oklahoma City Thunder v Phoenix Suns og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: NBA Star Enes Kanter Detained at Romanian Airport After Turkish Embassy Cancels His Passport twitter:description: The Oklahoma City Thunder center said it happened because of his political opposition to the Turkish president twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6f0c58a4bec66cd3/6988ce34fb4eac272c89216f/enes-kanter-oklahoma-city-thunder.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # NBA Star Enes Kanter Detained at Romanian Airport After Turkish Embassy Cancels His Passport by [Aric Jenkins](https://time.com/author/aric-jenkins/) ## Aric Jenkins May 20, 2017 7:35 PM UTC  PHOENIX, AZ - FEBRUARY 08: Enes Kanter #11 of the Oklahoma City Thunder during the NBA game against the Phoenix Suns at Talking Stick Resort Arena PHOENIX, AZ - FEBRUARY 08: Enes Kanter #11 of the Oklahoma City Thunder during the NBA game against the Phoenix Suns at Talking Stick Resort ArenaChristian Petersen—Getty Images by [Aric Jenkins](https://time.com/author/aric-jenkins/) ## Aric Jenkins May 20, 2017 7:35 PM UTC Oklahoma City Thunder player Enes Kanter was detained for hours at an airport in Romania Saturday morning, after the [Turkish embassy](http://time.com/4781189/donald-trump-recep-tayyip-erdogan-meeting/) canceled his passport. Kanter first alerted the internet of his situation in a video message posted on his Twitter account. “What’s up world. Just wanted to say we are in Romania and they said they canceled my passport by Turkish Embassy. They have been holding us here for hours by these two police,” he began in the video. Kanter, who is Turkish, said he was held by officials because of his strong political views and opposition to Turkish President [Recep Tayyip Erdoğan](http://time.com/4778783/trump-erdogan-visit-turkey-us/). “The guy who did it is the President of Turkey, and you guys know him by now. He’s attacked the people in Washington he’s a bad bad man. He is a dictator and he is the Hitler of our century. I’ll keep you posted guys, but just pray for us and I’ll tell you what’s going on,” Kanter added in the video. > [](https://twitter.com/Enes%5FKanter/status/865920183361302528) Kanter has since been released and landed safely in London, the NBA confirmed, [according to the New York _Times._](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/20/sports/enes-kanter-detained-romania-erdogan-turkey.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur) Kanter has been outspoken since gaining prominence as a center for the Thunder, and was a noted supporter of the failed [Turkish coup](http://time.com/4452078/turkey-coup-month-human-rights-clampdown/) to oust Erdoğan in 2016. Kanter on Saturday first retweeted the NBA wishing him a happy 25th birthday, but had posted the airport video within the next hour. He was traveling as part of his tour with the Enes Kanter Light Foundation. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4787350/enes-kanter-detained-romania-airport-turkey/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4787350/enes-kanter-detained-romania-airport-turkey/"},"headline":"NBA Star Enes Kanter Detained at Romanian Airport After Turkish Embassy Cancels His Passport","datePublished":"2017-05-20T19:35:54.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T05:02:13.503Z","description":"The Oklahoma City Thunder center said it happened because of his political opposition to the Turkish president","url":"https://time.com/4787350/enes-kanter-detained-romania-airport-turkey/","keywords":["Basketball","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6f0c58a4bec66cd3/6988ce34fb4eac272c89216f/enes-kanter-oklahoma-city-thunder.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Aric Jenkins","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/aric-jenkins/"}],"articleSection":"Sports","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6f0c58a4bec66cd3/6988ce34fb4eac272c89216f/enes-kanter-oklahoma-city-thunder.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Oklahoma City Thunder v Phoenix Suns","caption":"Oklahoma City Thunder v Phoenix Suns","creditText":"Christian Petersen—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/sports/","name":"Sports"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/basketball/","name":"Basketball"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4787350/enes-kanter-detained-romania-airport-turkey/","name":"NBA Star Enes Kanter Detained at Romanian Airport After Turkish Embassy Cancels His Passport"}}]}] ```