OKLAHOMA CITY — It’s been three months since Turkey canceled the passport of Oklahoma City Thunder center Enes Kanter. But the story is not over yet.

The Thunder will play the Brooklyn Nets in Mexico City on Dec. 7. Kanter’s status for that game remains uncertain.

Without a valid passport, he is unable to travel to another country other than Canada, which allows entry from U.S. residents who have a Green Card. There is no such agreement with Mexico. 

Kanter’s passport cancellation has been linked to the basketball player’s ties to an Islamic civil movement in Turkey and to his vocal disapproval of Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Kanter is a member of Hizmet, a movement led by Fethullah Gülen, a Turkish Imam currently living in exile in Pennsylvania. Erdoğan has accused Gülen of leading a failed 2016 coup against him. Kanter has been highly critical of Erdoğan and has called him “the Hitler of our century” on multiple occasions. 

Kanter could receive a re-entry permit, a special document issued to citizens of other countries whose passports have been canceled for reasons the U.S. government deems unsuitable. The permit would allow Kanter to leave the U.S. for another country, such as Mexico, and still return. The plan is for Kanter to acquire one before the December game.

Kanter made international headlines back in May when the Turkish government canceled his passport while he was on a flight to Bucharest, Romania. The perennial Sixth Man of the Year candidate was able to get on a flight to New York, via London, with the help of U.S. Homeland Security and Oklahoma senator Jim Inhofe, amongst others.

This incident with Kanter is far from the first time Turkey has canceled the passport of someone who is mid-travel. It has targeted citizens before, often ones who are journalists or work for NGOs and have spoken out against the Turkish government.

Kanter’s father, Mehmet Kanter, was arrested at the beginning of June for reasons Turkish officials never made clear. He was released the following week.

“My father is arrested because of my outspoken criticism of the ruling party,” Kanter said in a prepared statement shortly after the arrest.

Kanter’s family is “doing pretty good” now, he told The Norman, Oklahoma Transcript earlier this month — though he clarified he has not spoken to his parents, instead receiving updates from his brother, who lives in the U.S. Kanter’s father publicly disowned him because of political disagreements last year.

Kanter said shortly after Mehmet’s arrest that his father didn’t have much of a choice in doing so.

“They had to,” he said. “This would have happened a year ago if they hadn’t released that statement.”

Fred Katz is the Thunder beat writer for the Norman Transcript and CNHI Oklahoma as well as the host of the Locked on Thunder podcast. Follow him on Twitter: @FredKatz.