When I think about America, I think about freedom. Freedom of speech, freedom of religion. It’s a peaceful country.
The Turkish government is very famous for hunting down those who oppose Erdogan… I just didn't really want to risk my life by going to Europe where Erdogan's long arms are everywhere.
I love my country and I hope when all of the things are done, I want to go back to my country to see my family.
If I'm in America, I'm safe. I feel very safe. But if I step outside of America, it will be a very dangerous situation.
I’m a successful professional athlete, and whatever I’m going through in my private life would never impact my performance on court.
I mean, Turkey is my country. You know, it's my flag. That is where we're raised... My family is born there. So that's why, like, it's tough to see that... your country don't want you.
I put out on Twitter that the only thing I terrorize is the rim. People know me, my teammates know me, everybody knows me.
Our team security said, even if you go to a supermarket, have someone with you. So everywhere I go - grocery shopping, practice, go to games, go to plays - I always have someone with me because you never know, a lone wolf, one of the crazy Erdogan supporters will do something.
I remember during the draft I went to see a lot of organizations. But after you play in New York, you don't really want to go anywhere else. The people around are so cool.
When I look back at my basketball career, I want to say I tried to inspire as much as I could.
I was a really good student, first, second grade, third grade, and then fourth grade a little bit. And then I don’t know what happened. I became a very terrible student. I wish I took it more serious.
I’m an NBA player with no shoe deal. No endorsement deal. And I play in New York!
I like pressure, the boos didn't mean nothing to me.
I'm definitely happy that I'm part of the Oklahoma City team, a winner team, so I think it's going to go really well in the future.
After I see in OKC, I see this is how NBA teams are. You know how you're like in a dream and you have a superpower and just don't want to open your eyes and end the dream? Oklahoma City's been like that to me.
The N.B.A. provides a big platform to shed light on the human rights violations in Turkey and gives a voice to the thousands of people persecuted.
After my second year in the NBA, my prep years, my college, I hadn’t really found myself.
I’m 26 years old, I’m not some 43-year-old who’s just gonna watch TV all day. Of course I want to go out there, hang out with teammates, hang out with people I love, go to the beach, go hang out!
What am I doing, just playing basketball? It was eating at me. Because basketball, you play, you retire, you’re done. I wanted to do something more.
The only time I have fun is when I’m on the court.
