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Enes Kanter Freedom becomes a US citizen
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Darren Abate / dpa
A new passport, a new name: The basketball professional Enes Kanter, who grew up in Turkey, will receive American citizenship on Monday and will also have an additional surname entered.
Accordingly, the 29-year-old will be called Enes Kanter Freedom in the future.
His agent of the German press agency confirmed a corresponding report by "The Athletic".
A court approved the name change, US citizenship will take effect at 4 p.m. local time.
“I passed my naturalization test.
At the end of the month I will officially become a US citizen, ”the NBA pro from the Boston Celtics said last week.
The United States is "the greatest country in the world."
Criticism of Turkey and China
The politically active Kanter has been a harsh critic of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's regime in Turkey for years.
His Turkish passport is said to have been withdrawn since 2017, and the Center, born in Zurich to Turkish parents, is considered stateless.
Kanter is a supporter of the Gülen movement.
Erdoğan blames Fethullah Gülen, who also lives in the United States, for the attempted coup in August 2016.
Most recently, Kanter caused renewed tension between Beijing and the US Basketball League by publicly criticizing China for its dealings with Tibet.
He called Chinese President Xi Jinping a "brutal dictator" and declared that "Tibet belongs to the Tibetan people".
Tibet is under Chinese control.
Human rights activists and exiled Tibetans accuse Beijing of religious repression, torture and forced sterilization, among other things.
sak / sid / dpa