{"id":1302670,"date":"2022-02-16T13:08:29","date_gmt":"2022-02-16T18:08:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1302670"},"modified":"2022-02-16T13:08:44","modified_gmt":"2022-02-16T18:08:44","slug":"enes-kanter-freedoms-dunk-on-dr-oz-could-shake-up-pennsylvania-senate-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/enes-kanter-freedoms-dunk-on-dr-oz-could-shake-up-pennsylvania-senate-race\/","title":{"rendered":"Enes Kanter Freedom\u2019s Dunk on Dr. Oz Could Shake Up Pennsylvania Senate Race"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fenes-kanter-freedoms-dunk-on-dr-oz-could-shake-up-pennsylvania-senate-race%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1302670&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/GettyImages-686752756-scaled-e1645033650763.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p>Basketball star Enes Kanter Freedom is calling foul on Pennsylvania Senate candidate Mehmet Oz over the celebrity doctor\u2019s connections to Turkey.<\/p>\n<p>Freedom accused Oz of being in the pocket of Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/opinions\/2022\/02\/16\/doctor-oz-close-ties-to-turkey-raise-concern-about-senate-candidacy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">telling<\/a> the <em>Washington Post<\/em> that Oz would act as &#8220;Erdogan\u2019s arm&#8221; if elected to the Senate. Oz, who is running in the Republican primary, has come under fire over his connections to Turkish-American groups closely aligned with Erdogan. Oz\u2019s dual American and Turkish citizenship has also drawn scrutiny.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;People need to understand that Dr. Oz is in Erdogan\u2019s pocket. And whatever Erdogan wants, that\u2019s what Dr. Oz is going to do,&#8221; Freedom, a <em>Washington Free Beacon<\/em> Man of the Year, told the <em>Post<\/em>. &#8220;So, if Dr. Oz gets into the Senate, it\u2019s like Erdogan\u2019s arm will be in the Senate.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Freedom\u2019s dunk on Oz could prove pivotal in the GOP primary. Freedom, who became a naturalized American citizen last year, has become a darling of conservatives over his public criticism of the Chinese Communist Party, the NBA, and superstars like LeBron James. Freedom accused James of ignoring China\u2019s genocide against Uyghurs. Oz is already under fire from some conservatives upset over his past statements supporting abortion rights and gun control laws. Oz has said he no longer supports his past position on those issues.<\/p>\n<p>Freedom has long been a critic of Erdogan, who has tightened his grip on Turkish society and removed political enemies from positions in the government and university system. The Erdogan regime labeled Freedom a terrorist and issued an international arrest warrant over his support for Erdogan critic Fethullah Gulen, who&#8217;s living in Pennsylvania. Turkish authorities jailed Freedom\u2019s father over Freedom\u2019s support for Gulen, who Erdogan has accused of masterminding a failed coup attempt against the Turkish government in July 2016.<\/p>\n<p>Oz has rubbed shoulders with Turkish-American advocacy groups loyal to Erdogan. He appeared at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/2021\/12\/behind-dr-ozs-curtain\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a 2019 fundraiser<\/a> for the Turkish American National Steering Committee, an advocacy group founded by Erdogan\u2019s cousin and an American attorney who is registered as a foreign agent of Turkey. The committee has <a href=\"https:\/\/ourtasc.org\/2020\/12\/25\/fetoculer-orgutlu-saldirilariyla-facebook-ve-twitteri-manipule-ediyor\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">called<\/a> Freedom a &#8220;fugitive from justice in Turkey&#8221; and a &#8220;propagandist&#8221; against the Turkish government.<\/p>\n<p>Committee officials, including Erdogan\u2019s cousin Halil Mutlu, <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2017\/05\/16\/erdogans-bodyguards-beat-up-protesters-in-washington-d-c\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">were with<\/a> the Turkish strongman when his bodyguards attacked peaceful protesters outside of the Turkish ambassador\u2019s residence in Washington in May 2017.<\/p>\n<p>Oz denies that he will serve as a puppet of Erdogan if elected, telling the <em>Post<\/em> that he opposes many of Erdogan\u2019s positions on international issues. He said he opposes Turkey\u2019s purchase of missile systems from Russia. He said he opposes extradition for Gulen, the exiled cleric sought by Erdogan.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Gulen cannot be touched,&#8221; Oz told the <em>Post<\/em>. &#8220;There are no credible allegations that he was involved in the coup. He will stay in Pennsylvania.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Basketball star Enes Kanter Freedom is calling foul on Pennsylvania Senate candidate Mehmet Oz over the celebrity doctor\u2019s connections to Turkey. Freedom accused Oz of being in the pocket of &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1302670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1302670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1302670"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1302670\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1302670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1302670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1302670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}