By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
Enes Kanter visited the “Tucker Carlson Tonight” show of FOX News to talk about officially becoming a U.S.A citizen and legally changing his last name to “Freedom.”
“It was my dream ever since I stepped to America,” Kanter said. “Obviously, it has been a rough six years because the Turkish government revoked my passport and put my name on Interpol’s list.”
“I remember the first time I came to America in 2009,” Kanter mentioned. “One of my teammates criticized the president and I turned around and I told him: ‘Dude what are you doing? They’re going to throw you in jail?’ And he started laughing and said ‘This is America, you are not in Turkey anymore.’ I was very shocked.”
“From Day 1, America gave me a home,” Kanter added. “American people opened their arms and gave me a warm welcome. I wanted to do it because I wanted to call somewhere where I can feel that this is my home now. This is the greatest feeling I ever had.”
Kanter said that his Boston Celtics teammates have been very supportive of his decision. “My teammates are very happy for me. Because they knew the struggle I’ve had the last six years,” he said when he was asked if his teammates are as “grateful” as he is for being Americans. “It was a funny joke in the beginning because they were calling me Mr. Freedom but now it became a reality. My teammates are like my brothers. It was amazing because they support me with so much hope and motivation to fight for what’s right for.”
Carlson told Kanter about his sentiment that people who move to the U.S.A from places that “are not free” are more appreciative of the country’s freedoms than native U.S. citizens. The Celtics big man agreed. “I’m going to say this and I’m going to be honest: People should feel really blessed and lucky to be in America. They love to criticize it but when you leave a country like Turkey or China, you appreciate the freedoms you have here. So I feel like they should just… please.. they should keep their mouths shut and stop criticizing the greatest nation in the world and they should focus on their freedoms, human rights and democracy.”
“America gave me everything I have so I definitely appreciated the United States.”