Boston Celtics center Enes Kanter is becoming a United States citizen today, and to celebrate has decided to change his legal name to “Enes Kanter Freedom,” The Post Millennial reported.
Freedom is Essential for ALL ✊ pic.twitter.com/56DqpEyVCD
— Enes Kanter FREEDOM (@EnesFreedom) July 31, 2020
Kanter, who grew up in Turkey, frequently speaks out against human rights abuses internationally.
Recently, Kanter has focused on crimes committed by the Chinese government against its citizens. He has also spoken out in support of Taiwan, stating that the island is independent and does not belong to China.
“Taiwan is a democratic and free country, and I stand with Taiwan,” Kanter said in a video posted to Twitter. “Did you know that even though Taiwan has their own history, their own government, their own land, their own elections, their own everything, Xi Jinping is stuck in his own world.”
“[Jinping] claims Taiwan is a part of China and consistently threatens to invade Taiwan,” Kanter added. “The country’s 24 million Taiwanese people just want to live peacefully and freely. They cherish freedom, human rights, and democracy. Taiwan is a force for good.”
In response to his previous support for Tibetan independence, Chinese broadcaster and NBA partner Tencent stopped showing current or archived Boston Celtics games on its platforms, reported the Associated Press.
Kanter has also spoken out against the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing, China, telling Fox News that “the Chinese Communist Party does not represent the Olympic core values of excellence of respect of friendship, and they’re a brutal dictatorship, and they engage in censorship and they threaten the freedoms and they do not respect human rights.”
“And right while we speak right now, there is a genocide happening,” he continued. “And, you know, the International Olympic Committee is complicit and echoes the CCP propaganda and the US even is considering a diplomatic boycott and I hope they do and shame on all these athletes and all these governments and countries that have not boycotted yet.”
