'The Hitler of our century': Enes Kanter blasts Turkish president Erdogan while detained in Romania

Enes Kanter was detained Saturday at a Romanian airport for what he is claiming to be his anti-Erdogan political views.

Oklahoma City Thunder big man Enes Kanter was detained at a Romanian airport Saturday morning, where he says his passport was revoked for his political views.

Using his social media presence of nearly 475,000 followers on Twitter, Kanter posted videos in English and Turkish in which he called the president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, "the Hitler of our century."

"What's up world, just wanted to say we are in Romania," Kanter says in the video. "They said they canceled my passport by Turkish embassy. They've been holding us here for hours by these two police. You know, the reason behind it is just of course my political views. The guy who did it is ... the president of Turkey. ... He's attacked people in Washington. He's a bad, bad man. He's a dictator. And he's the Hitler of our century."

Recently, Erdogan visited Washington, D.C., to meet with President Trump. It was there that his bodyguards were captured on video attacking protesters outside the Turkish ambassador's home on Embassy Row.

Kanter, who turned 25 on Saturday, has been an outspoken critic of Erdogan in the past, so much so his family—who still live in Turkey—publicly disowned him last year. He is a supporter of Fethullah Gulen, the alleged mastermind behind 2016's failed coup to unseat Erdogan from power.

Kanter was in Romania as part of a world tour of his EnesKanter Light Foundation, providing help for those in need.

Update: A spokesman for the Romanian border police told the New York Times that Kanter has been released and is on a flight to London. Kanter has not confirmed.

"Today at around 1 p.m. local time an individual arrived from Frankfurt,” the spokesman told the Times. “My colleagues established that his travel documents weren’t valid, that they had been canceled by his home country, so he wasn’t allowed to enter the country. At around 5 p.m., he left the airport on a flight to London. While he was at the airport he wasn’t detained or locked up, he was allowed to wander around, but he couldn’t enter the country."