Under the title "Democratic Senator: Erdogan's Government Denies Its People Basic Freedoms," the Al Arabiya website reported that the Chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Democratic Senator Bob Menendez, launched a sharp attack on Erdogan and his government, describing it as depriving its people of the basic freedoms they deserve.
These comments came after he met with American basketball star of Turkish descent, opposition player Enes Kanter, who is critical of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Senator Menendez stated on his Twitter account: "Happy to chat with player Enes Kanter about human rights in Turkey." He added, "The Erdogan government has long denied its people the basic freedoms they deserve."
Enes Kanter is known as an opponent of Erdogan's government, and his parents have been arrested due to his views. Last year, Kanter posted a picture of Erdogan on Instagram depicting him on a fake Time magazine cover with the title "Terrorist of the Year." Kanter wrote "dictator" next to the image on his account.
In recent days, the NBA player spoke to U.S. congressional members about human rights and the violations of Erdogan's regime in Turkey, including Republican Senator John Thune.
In December of last year, one of the largest Turkish diaspora groups in the United States, TASC, had its Twitter account suspended for targeting basketball player Enes Kanter. The suspension of the Turkish American National Steering Committee's TASC account on Twitter was due to its coordination of a harassment campaign against Kanter, whom the Turkish government accuses of being a follower of the exiled cleric Fethullah Gülen.
Kanter's agent, Hank Vetik, tweeted: "Erdogan's propaganda machine in the U.S. ourtasc and a few of its members were suspended on Twitter for attempting to promote lies and slander... You should feel hurt when you can't spread your lies in a free society." TASC describes itself as a Turkish-American organization for advocacy and education that seeks only to amplify the community's voice in the United States. The group is known to have numerous ties with the Turkish state and has recently published pro-government messages.
