Los Angeles (AFP)

On Wednesday, the 29-year-old stoked tensions between China and the NBA, directly attacking the Chinese president and condemning Beijing's policy in Tibet.

“Dear brutal dictator XI JINPING and the Chinese government. Tibet belongs to the Tibetan people!” Kanter wrote on social media.

"I stand alongside my Tibetan brothers and sisters, and I support their calls for Freedom."

The Turkish pivot, also passed by Jazz, Thunder, Blazers and Knicks, accompanied his message with a photo of a pair of sneakers adorned with Tibetan iconography and the slogan "Free Tibet", worn during the first match of the season against New York at Madison Square Garden, in which he did not participate.

Tibet has alternated over the centuries periods of independence and control by China, which claims to have "peacefully liberated", during a military intervention in 1951, this vast territory located on a rugged plateau.

But human rights defenders and Tibetan exiles say China's central government practices religious repression, torture, forced sterilization and cultural erosion through imposed re-education.

- Erdogan compared to Hitler -

Beijing's reaction was not long in coming.

Chinese tech giant Tencent's sports site on Thursday pulled all of the Celtics' upcoming games from its schedule.

And the NBA to find itself plunged as in 2019, in the heart of a diplomatic crisis with China, one of its biggest markets abroad.

At the time, it was a tweet written by then-Houston Rockets leader Daryl Morey in support of pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong that angered Beijing.

And the economic consequences have been significant for the NBA.

Enes Kanter, the Turkish backbone of the Portland Trail Blazers, warms up before the game against the Washington Wizards at the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon, on February 20, 2021. Abbie Parr GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP / Archives

In the midst of a storm, League boss Adam Silver refused to apologize and sanction Morey, believing that the freedom to express oneself is an unalterable right.

He should not deviate from this principle for Kanter.

Long before attacking the Chinese government, Kanter often criticized the authorities in his country, not hesitating to nickname Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the "Hitler of our century" in 2017.

An assumed supporter of the Gulenist movement accused by Ankara of having orchestrated the failed coup against the Turkish president in July 2016, he explained that for years he had avoided any contact with members of his family in Turkey for fear of them. expose them to reprisals from the authorities.

"Principles take precedence over money"

His father, Mehmet Kanter, an academic accused of belonging to this movement founded by preacher Fethullah Gülen and considered by Ankara as a terrorist, was sentenced to 15 years in prison, before being acquitted in June 2020, after denying everything link with this movement.

Enes Kanter is still under nine arrest warrants.

"The reason behind this is that I stand up for human rights, freedom and political prisoners who are being tortured. Hey @RTErdogan. I don't care if there are 9,000 or 9,000, I will NOT give up." , he tweeted this summer.

"For some people, it's money that takes precedence over principles. For me, principles take precedence over money," Kanter told the Boston Globe in 2019.

In the summer of 2020, he expressed his anger at the time of the demonstrations against the police violence following the death of George Floyd, like many sportsmen, including LeBron James.

This did not prevent him from scratching the Lakers superstar in recent days, when the latter, yet vaccinated against Covid-19, felt it was not his role to encourage skeptics to do so.

“I was very disappointed, it's ridiculous. James, he's one of the faces of the League and he should be the first to say: + listen everybody, I got the shot, and I encourage everyone, my community, basketball fans, sports fans to get vaccinated, so we can save more lives. "

© 2021 AFP