Turkish prosecutors looking for four-year imprisonment for Enes Kanter

What's the story?

Turkish prosecutors are looking to see that New York Knicks center Enes Kanter is punished with a four-year prison sentence after some insulting political comments towards president Recap Tayyip Erdogan last year.

In case you didn't know...

Kanter was held up on May 20 this year at a Romanian airport as his Turkish passport was cancelled. After the intervention of American officials, he was allowed to return to the United States.

The heart of the matter...

The 25-year-old, who was the third pick in the 2011 NBA draft, grew up in Turkey and is a vocal supporter of Fethullah Gulen. Turkish leaders believe that Gulen was the mastermind behind the failed 2016 military coup and therefore considered as an opponent of Erdogan.

Kanter believes that his outspoken political views are the reason behind his detainment and passport cancellation too.

In June, his father Mehmet was also arrested by authorities for the same reason. According to ESPN, Kanter described himself as "countryless" after the incident while stating his desire to also become an American citizen.

After previous stints with the Utah Jazz and Oklahoma City Thunder, was traded to the Knicks for Carmelo Anthony during this past offseason. In the 27 games he has played this season thus far, he is averaging 13.2 points and a career-high 9.8 rebounds per game, with an effective field-goal percentage of 60.3%.

What's next?

According to the Associated Press (h/t ESPN.com), Kanter will be tried in absentia regarding the tweets he posted about Erdogan in May and June 2016.

Author's take

Although he has been vocal about his feelings towards Erdogan on social media, there still should be no reason why he'd be imprisoned for voicing political views.