(upbeat music) - Hi everyone.

I'm Steve Adubato.

We kick you off this program with a compelling important conversation with Enes Kanter Freedom, NBA star, Human Rights activist.

That's what it says in his title, but he's so much more than that.

Enes, thank you so much for joining us.

- No, thank you for having me.

I appreciate that.

- Let me share a few things about you and we'll get into a substantive conversation that is important.

Played in the NBA for how many years?

- 11 years now.

Yeah, 11 years just finished.

- Yeah.

As a Knicks fan, I remember you playing with the Knicks, the Celtics, and other teams.

But beyond your work on the court, your extraordinary work as an athlete and basketball player.

Swiss-born, raised in Turkey- - Yeah.

- you have spoken out on a variety of human rights issues, and one of the areas that you've spoken about the most is the NBA.

And I'm gonna talk about Turkey in just a minute, but can we do this?

You have questioned the NBA's commitment and how genuine it is to human rights, particularly as it relates to the NBA's relationship with China.

- Mm-hmm.

- Can you talk about that?

- Of course.

You know, I've been playing in NBA for the last 11 years.

Whenever, sometimes, whenever I talk about some of the problems we're happening in NBA and people thinking that I hate the NBA, it's wrong.

I love the NBA because, you know, NBA gave me everything that I have now, you know, my respect, my money, the platform.

I remember, you know, it was two years ago, we were in NBA bubble.

I'm sure everybody remembers the NBA bubble.

It was during the protest.

And NBA was the first organization that went out there and said, "We are more than just a basketball organization.

We care about social justice."

And I remember, you know, they put all the logos on the floor.

They put all the phrases behind our jersey, and all the players were going out there and talking about social justice.

I was like, "You know what, I'm with you guys because you guys are, it's a freedom of protest, and you guys have a freedom to do whatever you want in America.

And then two years later, I started to speak up about some of the problems that were happening in China, which it was a human rights issue.

You look at all my interviews, all past that I have not said a word about any government's political issue, you know?

So I talk about the Uyghurs, Tibetans, Hong Kongers, Taiwanese people, Mongolians, and Falun Gongs, and what they're going through.

Unfortunately, when the organization that you play with that have billions of dollars get tied up with the China and Chinese government, they're gonna do everything they can do to shut you up.

I remember I talk about the problems were happening in China.

First game, one of my teammate walk up to me and said, "You know, this is your last season in NBA, right?

You are not gonna get another contract after this.

Have fun with it.

Smile.

I hope you win a championship, but this is it.

You talk about China, it's over."

- Because?

- Well, because of the money.

More people watch NBA games in- - Because the NBA is opening up a market in China and there's billions to be made.

- More people actually watch NBA games in China than American population last year, over 450 million.

And I remember ESPN, they put an article out there, and we found out 40 NBA owners got tied up around $10 billion with China.

So, and even a lot of the basketball experts were like, "Listen man, you know, you're a good player and stuff, but you gonna cost any order millions of dollars, so it's not worth it.

And this is it.

It's over."

- Let me ask you this.

Enes, was the argument that you're biting the hand that is helping to feed them?

- I mean, it just, it's funny because I just wanted to expose hypocrisy and yes, it is true.

And also, not just that.

You look at, I really wanted to expose Nike, too because I was seeing the hypocrisy as the biggest sponsor of NBA and how Nike was standing with "Black Lives Matter", "No Asian Hate", - Yeah.

- LGBT community.

- Yes.

- Latino community in America, but everybody knows about the sweatshops and slave labors in Xinjiang area.

I was like, "You know what?

Enough is enough.

I'm so tired of this."

- So when you said it, you're saying that your teammates that you respected, you had relationships with, won, lost with, your brothers- - Yeah.

- told you to shut up.

- Well, you know, they did not tell me to shut up.

They just, they come up to me because if it was only me, I'm gonna make a noise, obviously.

But if they would've joined me, we would've make even a bigger impact.

And I, it was the perfect moment because it was right before the Beijing Olympics.

So forget about the NBA, forget about my teammates.

I literally try to reach out to NFL, MLB, MLS, NHL, forget about American sports.

I try to reach out to Olympians.

I was like, "Listen, man, join me.

We'll become a movement, and we will talk about the human rights violations.

Because it doesn't matter, you're from the right, you're from the left.

Whichever party you support, you have to care about human rights because it's about politics."

So this is what they told me.

They said, "Listen, man, I think what you're doing is so amazing, so inspirational.

We love you, we support you but we just cannot do it out loud."

I asked them why.

They're like, "Well, we have shoe deals, endorsement deals, we have jersey sales, we wanna get another contract."

I asked the one simple question, I was like, "Put yourself in their shoes, have some empathy.

If your mother, if your daughter, if your sister was in those concentration camps in China getting tortured and raped every day, would you still pick money and business over your morals, values, and principles?"

They usually turn around and leave the room.

- You know, Enes, I wanna talk about Turkey, but just let me get this out of the way.

Only because as we're taping this program, the great LeBron James as a basketball player has broken the all-time scoring record that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had held for a long time.

You tweeted, "38,388 points, zero morals, zero value, zero empathy, 1 bow down to China."

You went public in your attack on LeBron James, while he was breaking that record.

Do you regret any aspect of that tweet?

- I don't.

Well, whatever people needs to understand, my attack is not only towards LeBron, I call out the CEO of Nike, Phil Jackson.

I call out MJ, I call out not only basketball- - But LeBron James has been out front in the civil rights movement and then the "Black Lives Matter" movement.

It's not as if he's been quiet.

- The reason I call out LeBron James is because there are a couple reasons.

The one, he is the face of the league.

He is the face of Nike.

- Yes.

- And third, he call himself a social justice warrior more than an athlete- - He did.

- freedom fighter, human right activist.

Well, that's another human rights issue.

The shoes that you've been wearing since your whole career, the company that you signed with $1 billion that your lifetime contract with Nike he has is made by slave kids.

And you have three other kids that, you know, look at them.

- But what did I wanna move to Turkey.

But what did he say to you when you confronted him with this?

- He didn't say anything.

I don't wanna say, I wanna educate him because I'm sure he knows it better than me, but I just wish that he had some empathy.

- Got it.

People can decide for themselves.

Do some research folks on the Nike deal, on the NBA deal, China, et cetera.

Let's talk Turkey.

Erdogan, describe him as a leader and why he's so dangerous, the human rights violations in Turkey and whether Erdogan has to do with that.

- Yeah.

If I describe him with words, he'll probably, I will probably say a mafia leader.

A mafia leader, that's like the best words to describe him.

If you look at what's happening in Turkey right now, it's the number one country in the world that put most journalists in the jail so many outlets, media outlets has been shut down.

So many innocent people are in the jail right now waiting for help.

I believe there are so many reports out there, like Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Human Right Foundation, Freedom House, are saying that there are almost 17,000 innocent women and almost 1,000 babies and kids are in the jail right now waiting for help.

And just because of, they don't see the world the way how everyone sees it, you know?

- Enes, excuse me for interrupting, but you, "2023's Most Wanted Terrorist" list in Turkey.

You are wanted, there's a bounty on you.

Keep, go ahead.

Pick up your point.

- I mean it, how, it's just unbelievable how a foreign government can put a bounty on a US citizen head in US soil.

I have been, you know, so outspoken about this because it's not only me, there are so many other people on their list waiting for help.

But I went to Congress, had a conversation with the congressmen, congresswoman, senators, and when I told 'em about this, they were screaming.

They just couldn't believe it.

They wrote a letter to President Biden, Blinken, now, Jake Sullivan, State Department, and saying, "This is unacceptable."

This is putting a US citizen life is in danger, you know?

- And what's the response?

- The response- - It's one thing to be outrageous, it's another thing to do something.

What are they doing with Erdogan?

- Well, the response was nothing because unfortunately, our government right now, our administration are soft on some of the dictatorships out there, like China, like Turkey, just because it was a NATO ally.

President Biden does now wanna make Erdogan even more mad about some of the NATO issues.

I'm sure you guys know, I don't wanna get on details, but unfortunately, we have not heard anything from them yet.

- The earthquake, Syria and Turkey.

Just other than it being an extraordinary tragedy that's unimaginable on so many levels.

- Yeah.

- Your personal reaction.

- I mean, it's definitely one of the biggest and most heartbreaking disaster that Turkey ever faced.

Close to 33,000 people has passed already, you know, but- - We're taping on February 14th, unfortunately that number will continue to grow.

Go ahead, Enes.

I'm sorry.

- unfortunately but I think what gives me so much hope was that the response in the international community.

And obviously, the Turkish government is not an easy government to work with, but even like some of the, Erdogan's declared them as an enemy.

Countries like Greece, Armenia, some of the, so many other countries just sent help and say, "You know what, this is a human crisis issues that we gotta do whatever we can to help those innocent people.

So, but I was just, my condolences, my prayers and thoughts definitely with them.

And because my sister's husband's side was in that earthquake area, and I have not heard from them yet, so.

- The construction industry in Turkey.

Talk about, you told our producers you wanted to talk about it.

Why?

- It's just corrupt because of the Erdogan's government.

Because the cheaper the buildings are, the cheaper the construction is, the more money goes to Erdogan's pocket.

And unfortunately, you look at some of the cities, it's just, just unbelievable.

Thousands of people dead.

But I definitely blame the Turkish government because it's just been so corrupt.

And they are making cheap buildings from cheap stuff.

So that's why this whole thing happened.

And everybody's blaming actually Turkish government, not only me.

You know, you go on Twitter and even the Turkish citizens, Turkish people who lives in Turkey is blaming Erdogan's regime.

-You have not been offered, I mean, you're a great basketball player and I encourage people to go online and look at Enes' basketball exploits.

You have not been offered a contract by any NBA team, correct?

- Yes.

I mean, it's been almost one year now, yeah.

- Do you believe that you've been blackballed?

- A hundred percent.

I mean, you look at my stats.

Let me give you actually some facts.

Look at my stats the year before the Celtics.

I was with Portland Trailblazers.

I averaged double-double.

I actually started many games.

- Double-double is more than 10 points, more than 10 rebounds.

Go ahead.

- And, you know, we were in a playoff race and then now you're telling me a year later, I forgot how to play basketball.

I mean, even I talked to some of our basketball experts, even they were telling me you're being blackballed, but no one's gonna admit it because you can actually sue the league, which is we are looking to sue the league anyway.

- I wanna put up your website, the Enes' charity is the International Festival of Language and Culture.

Talk about that while people check out the website, please.

- So, well, first, I have my own website, and as freedom.org, you can see all kind of, all my human rights work actually there.

And the second, the website you are talking about, we are bringing kids from all over the world.

And we are just teaching them about how to live together.

And it doesn't matter what your background is, your skin color, your religion, the most important thing in life is leave your differences on a table and trying to find what we have in common.

So, and with that festival we are having, that's what we doing.

And if you wanna have a better and brighter future, we gotta do it with the kids.

And they're having an amazing time.

So it's been an amazing project that our kids are coming from different backgrounds, different colors, and religions, and it's been fun.

- Few seconds left.

I need to ask you this.

You had this extraordinary basketball career, making a lot of money, earning it by being one of the best.

Do you have any regret?

And now you're blackballed.

There's no team that's gonna take you on anytime soon.

We wish you all the best in that way.

But more importantly, your work you're doing.

Do you have any regrets about the way you have spoken out?

- You know, people keep asking me that question, but I talk about the problems were happening in Turkey.

I lost my family.

So to me, losing a contract or basketball career was not that big of a deal.

But people need to understand this is bigger than myself, bigger than NBA, bigger than basketball.

We have to stand up for innocent people around the world because there are millions of them are right now getting tortured and raped every day.

While we are are talking right now, there's a genocide happen, so I have zero regrets.

- Enes Kanter Freedom.

It says, "NBA star, Human Rights Advocate."

But I'm gonna just say this, I'm a student of leadership.

I try to study and understand it.

I know a great leader who inspires and moves others when I see that person.

That's Enes Kanter Freedom.

Thank you Enes.

You honor us by joining us.

We wish you all the best in the work that you are doing.

You have an open invitation with us anytime, okay?

- Okay.

Thank you so much for having me.

I appreciate that.

- Stay with us.

We'll be right back.

- [Narrator] One-On-One with Steve Adubato has been a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

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