By Eurohoops team /info@eurohoops.net
The coach of the Turkish national team Ergin Ataman and Oklahoma City Thunder center Enes Kanter for a long time are at odds.
However, this time the dispute is public on twitter and has also a political background. It all started with Ataman admitting on CNN Turk that he will not call Kanter once again in the national team. As Ataman said: “When we were eliminated from Eurobasket, he tweeted and mocked the national team. I wasn’t the coach at the time. His teammates were negatively impacted. Enes also posted some political tweets. He couldn’t be with us because of his personality, not because of his skills”.
Kanter replied via twitter: “Hey coward and incapable! If you have any honour, you could say ‘we are afraid of the dictator that rulling us and that’s why we didn’t invite you”.
Ey Korkak Aciz!
Bahane üreteceğine biraz şerefin olsa da çıkıp başımızdaki Diktatör yüzünden almaya korkuyoruz desen https://t.co/jTJWPdy1Uy— Enes Kanter (@Enes_Kanter) 7 Mayıs 2016
Ataman of course answered: “You became a good basketball player but you couldn’t become an athlete and a man my brother. People with no respect won’t wear the national team’s jersey. Never.”
İyi basketbolcu olmuşsun, ancak sporcu ve adam olamamışsın kardeşim. Terbiyesizler asla “Milli Forma”yı giyemeyecek!
— Ergin Ataman (@erginataman) 7 Mayıs 2016
And Kanter had the last word: “If being a man means to become servant of the palace (ed.note: he reffers to Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan) and become a subservient, then i don’t want to be a man”.
Adamlık sizin gibi saray uşağı olup, boyun büküp biat eden, pakrodinlere eyvallah demekten geçiyorsa, kalsın ben almayayım.
— Enes Kanter (@Enes_Kanter) 7 Mayıs 2016