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Turkey is taking action against critics of President Erdogan. She has put a bounty on her head for her capture. Who is on the list?
The pressure on opponents of the Turkish head of state Recep Tayyip Erdogan grows. Because the Turkish interior ministry has offered rewards for the arrest of prominent critics of the president. Those wanted are listed on the so-called “grey list” for the search for terrorists. Among them are a US basketball star with Turkish roots and a prominent Turkish journalist living in Germany. Also read: Ekrem Imamoglu – Who is Erdogan’s feared opponent in the upcoming elections?
Turkey puts a bounty on Erdogan critic and basketball star Enes Kanter
In more than 800 games stood Enes Kanter on the floor in the US basketball professional league NBA for the past twelve years. But now the 30-year-old is fighting the fight of his life: Turkey has put him on the “grey list” of wanted terrorists and offered a bounty for his capture.
Anyone who contributes to Kanter’s capture will receive one from the Turkish Ministry of the Interior Reward from 500,000 lira – the equivalent of around 24,400 euros. “I’m horrified,” Kanter writes on Instagram. So far, the Turkish secret service in particular has been after him, the athlete emphasized to the “New York Post”. But now “everyone wants the money,” the sports star fears, and warns: “If something happens to me, the Erdogan regime will be responsible.”
Kanter was born in Zurich to Turkish parents and grew up in Van, in eastern Turkey. In 2011, the 2.11 meter man went to the USA and began his basketball career with the Utah Jazz. Kanter is one of the hottest critic of the Turkish head of state. He publicly referred to him as the “dictator” and “Hitler of our century”. Turkey revoked his citizenship in 2017 and he has had a US passport since 2022. The athlete is a self-confessed follower of Islam Preacher Fethullah Gülen, who has lived in exile in the USA since 1999. This makes Kanter a “terrorist” in Erdogan’s eyes. The Turkish government sees Gülen as the mastermind of the July 2016 coup attempt.
Various journalists on the Turkish terror list – including Can Dündar
But Enes Kanter is not the only one on whom the Turkish Ministry of the Interior has now put a bounty on his head. The prominent journalist Can Dündar is also on the list. The former editor-in-chief of the Erdogan-critical newspaper Cumhuriyet has lived in Germany since 2016. In his home country, he faces a long prison sentence because he reported in 2014 about alleged arms deliveries by the Turkish secret service to Islamist militias in Syria. With Dündar there are currently 15 more journalists on the terror wanted list of the Turkish Ministry of the Interior, including Cevheri Güven, who also lives in Germany.
“bounty Exposing wanted people is a method like something out of a Western film,” says Christian Mihr, Germany Managing Director of the organization Reporters Without Borders. “We call on the Turkish state to finally stop the persecution of Dündar and dozens of other media workers.” The manhunt calls apparently fall on fertile ground. This is shown by the appearance of the Turkish government deputy Mustafa Acikgöz in mid-January in a mosque in Neuss. In his speech to Erdogan supporters, Acikgöz called for supporters of Gülen and the Kurdish PKK in Germany to be “pulled out of their holes” and “destroyed”.
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