BOSTON CELTICS star Enes Kanter can’t remember the last time he spoke to his family, having lost his Turkish citizenship in 2017 for speaking out against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The 2013 tweet saw his dad face jail time in Turkey and his family were forced to release a statement disowning him, just to stay safe.

Kanter has been a vocal critic of Erdogan for years, once referring to him as “the Hitler of our century,” and has been accused of being a follower of Fethullah Gulen, a US-based Islamist Turkish cleric accused by Turkey’s government of masterminding a failed military coup in 2016.

Kanter opened up about the dangers of being a journalist in President Erdogan’s Turkey – there are currently more than 120 journalists and other media workers imprisoned according to official figures – and how he still receives death threats for his anti-Turkey tweet.

“It all started back in 2013, there was a corruption scandal happening in Turkey,” Kanter said.

“The president quickly started putting journalists in jail for talking about this, and there are still hundreds of journalists in prison in Turkey.

“Because of the NBA platform it went viral; I saw the power of one tweet.

“People were telling me: ‘Don’t get into politics, just stick to basketball,’ but the things I talk about are not politics – the things I talk about are freedom. Freedom of speech, expression, democracy and human rights.

“The last time I saw my family was back in 2015, and the last time I talked to my family, I can’t even remember.

“My family members lost jobs and were affected so much that they had to put out a statement saying that they were disowning me. I don’t think they had any other choice.

“I remember going to a practice that day and it was one of the toughest days of my life.

“They actually put my dad in jail for a while, but we put so much pressure on them from here that they let him go.

“Some of my teammates were saying: ‘Just keep your mouth shut, play your basketball, make your millions and be happy.’

“But people don’t understand, people know my story because I play in the NBA, but there are thousands and thousands of stories out there that are way worse than mine.

“I receive death threats every week, and the Turkish government revoked my passport in 2017. If you are in Turkey and criticising the government, they will put you in jail.

“But if you’re outside of Turkey and if you criticise the government they will push to put your name on Interpol’s red list and they will try to deport you back to Turkey. So I cannot travel outside of America, because if I leave I’ll be deported back to Turkey.

“I am a green card holder right now, and it takes five years to become an American citizen. So next year hopefully I’ll aim to become a citizen.

“I’ll need to pass the test of course. And so hopefully when that happens I’ll finally be able to travel outside of America.

“It would certainly be a relief to become a citizen of America; this country has given me so much.

“I hope one day I’ll be able to return to Turkey, but that would definitely take a change of regime.”

Not content with standing in solidarity with those in Turkey, he set up youaremyhope.org in a bid to combat the injustices in Turkey and has his own foundation which battles poverty. The 28-year-old was also a key figure in last month’s NBA boycott.

Teams skipped games as a protest against the unlawful shooting of Jacob Blake.

Using his platform, Kanter is campaigning for NBA athletes to register to vote and managed to convince team owners to allow NBA stadiums and training facilities as polling stations for November’s presidential elections.

“I know what it’s like to fight against injustice and for freedom,” said Kanter, who is in the midst of the Celtics’ play-off series battle with the Toronto Raptors.

“When the peaceful protests were happening, I drove 20 hours from Chicago to Boston to be with my city.

“Racism is taught, it’s not something you’re born with.

“Coming here to the bubble to complete the NBA season, we knew that basketball was a second priority. There are bigger things going on than sports right now.

“Like everyone else, after watching those videos, and I’m talking about George Floyd, or Jacob Blake, I felt sick to my stomach. So we are saying that enough is enough, and we are sick of it.

“This cannot be white against black, this is everyone against racism. This is good against evil. Why does equality even need to be a debate? So that’s what we’re fighting for so hard.

“When we had a players’ meeting about the boycott, we talked about what we could do to change this.

“One of the most important answers was voting. Voting is not only our right but it is our power.

“Don’t just talk about it, don’t just tweet about it – be about it.

“So we’ve asked our owners to make NBA arenas and big facilities accessible for voting. Because voting should not be a difficult process, it should be easy for everybody.

“We just found out that only 20 per cent of the NBA players are registered to vote, and that’s not enough. So if we’re going to inspire others, it has to start with us first.”

Kanter also called on footballers, and other sport stars in Britain, to follow Marcus Rashford’s lead and use their positions of power in society to force social change.

Rashford forced the Conservative government to make a U-turn on free school meals for kids and Kanter believes others should be doing their bit.

“When you are done with your career, you don’t only want to be remembered for your game,” the Celtics centre said.

“It’s good that you [Rashford] are one of the best soccer players, it’s good that you are one of the best basketball players. But don’t only be known for that.

“If God gives you this platform, use it. Use it to affect people’s lives, use it to touch hearts, use it to make a big change.

“So it’s not about how many goals you score or baskets you shoot, it’s about what kind of legacy you’re leaving behind you.

“Once I’m done with my career I want to be known as a human rights activist before being known as a basketball player.”