ISTANBUL (Dispatches) – Turkish prosecutors are seeking the extradition of New York Knicks center Enes Kanter over his links to the U.S.-based cleric accused of orchestrating a failed coup in 2016, state-owned Anadolu news agency said.
Kanter, a vocal critic of President Tayyip Erdogan, was indicted by a Turkish court last year over alleged membership of an "armed terrorist group” after being contacted repeatedly by people close to preacher Fethullah Gulen.
The Istanbul prosecutors’ office was not immediately available to comment on the report on Wednesday.
Anadolu said on Tuesday prosecutors had sought the issue of a "red notice” for Kanter, an Interpol request to locate and provisionally arrest an individual pending extradition.
It said the extradition request includes social media comments made about Gulen by Kanter, who has often declared his support for the cleric.
Turkey previously revoked Kanter’s passport, and declared him a fugitive for his support of Gulen, whom Ankara accuses of being behind the attempted putsch of July 2016 - an accusation Gulen denies.
In May 2017, Kanter was refused entry into Romania because of the cancellation of his Turkish passport.
Earlier this month, Kanter said he would not go to London for a game with his NBA team because he fears he could be assassinated for criticizing Erdogan.
Meanwhile, Turkey on Wednesday was hunting for another 33 suspects over their alleged links to a group believed to be behind a failed coup in 2016.
Police launched simultaneous operations to catch the suspects on the orders of the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office in Istanbul, the state-run Anadolu Agency said.
Soldiers in active service, teachers, police officers and a scholar were among those targeted in the operations, Anadolu said.
The suspects allegedly contacted via pay phone with the network headed by U.S.-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, the alleged mastermind of the coup bid in July 2016, in which 250 people were killed.
Ankara has requested Gulen's extradition from the United States for seven times, according to Turkey's Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul.
Since the putsch attempt, some 77,000 people have been jailed pending trial and 150,000 state employees including teachers, judges and soldiers have been suspended or dismissed in a crackdown on alleged supporters of Gulen.