Thunder center Enes Kanter says his father has been arrested by the Turkish government

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Enes Kanter

David Ramos/Getty Images

Oklahoma City Thunder center Enes Kanter tweeted on Friday that his father, Mehmet, has been arrested by the Turkish government.

Kanter, who is from Turkey, has been a vocal critic of president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, calling him the "Hitler of our century."

Details of the alleged arrest are unknown, but a Turkish newspaper reported last week that a warrant was issued for Kanter's arrest in Turkey and Kanter previously was detained at a Romanian airport because Turkey had canceled his passport.

Kanter is a supporter of Fethullah Gulen, an Islamic preacher who has lived in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since 1999. The Turkish government blamed Gulen for an attempted military coup last summer.

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According to ESPN, Kanter said recently that he hasn't spoken to his father in two years. Mehmet told a Turkish newspaper last summer that the family "disavowed" Kanter for his support of Gulen.

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