Gus Bilirakis: “I am grateful for this opportunity tonight, and I thank my good friend, Mr. Owens. He does an outstanding job. What a…”

“I am grateful for this opportunity tonight, and I thank my good friend, Mr. Owens. He does an outstanding job. What a great American he is. I thank the gentleman for organizing this very important Special Order on the persecution faced by Enes Kanter Freedom by the Erdogan regime. This issue has personal significance to me, Mr. Speaker, because I consider Enes a very close friend. I am proud to call him my friend. Enes should be held up and supported by the American Government as someone who has used his platform to speak out against human rights violations around the world. Instead, Mr. Speaker, as the previous speaker said, the Biden administration has been critically silent on the Turkish persecution of Enes Kanter Freedom. Most recently, Enes had a 10 million Turkish lira bounty--slightly more than $500,000--placed on his head by the Erdogan regime. This is just the latest of a long line of direct attacks against Enes Kanter Freedom by the Turkish Government. It is unacceptable, and we must speak out. Since 2017, the Erdogan regime has issued at least 10 arrest warrants against Kanter Freedom, and he even narrowly avoided arrest on behalf of the Turkish Government in Indonesia. This is unacceptable, Mr. Speaker. I know for a fact that he hasn't seen his family for approximately 10 years because he can't go back to his native Turkiye. Now, he is an American citizen and loving it, and he is giving so much. He is such a great American. What has he done wrong?…”