text: ANKARA, Turkey -- Turkey's state-run news agency says prosecutors are seeking more than four years in prison for NBA player Enes Kanter on charges of insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. 
   
   Anadolu Agency says an indictment prepared by the Istanbul chief prosecutor's office accuses the New York Knicks center of insulting the president in a series of tweets he posted in May and June 2016. 
   
   Kanter, who is in the United States, would be tried in absentia. 
   
   Turkish prosecutors are seeking a four-year prison term for Knicks player Enes Kanter, who sent a series of tweets that the government deemed insulting. John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports 
   
   Kanter said on Wednesday that he isn't bothered by the potential indictment. 
   
   "You guys were seeing today that I was just out there having fun, playing basketball and practicing with my teammates," Kanter said. "... You guys are going to say, 'How do you get used to, like, prison, this and that, whatever?' I think it's just nothing to me, man, because I'm in America. I'm good. My focus right now is just going out there, playing basketball, having fun with my teammates and just winning, and just thinking about playoffs. I don't really think about all this stuff, whatever. They can do whatever they want to do." 
   
   Kanter, who grew up in Turkey, is a vocal supporter of Fethullah Gulen, the U.S.-based cleric blamed by Turkey for last year's failed military coup. Kanter was detained in Romania on May 20 because his Turkish passport was canceled. He said he was able to return to the United States after American officials intervened. 
   
   The Knicks center said he found out about the indictment on Wednesday morning. 
   
   "I was like, 'Oh, four years.' I was like, 'That's it? Only four years? All the trash I've been talking?' I said I promise you guys, it doesn't really bother me a little, even one bit," he said. "My thing is just going out there and just playing basketball." 
   
   Kanter was asked Wednesday if he hopes the situation in his country can change. 
   
   "The only thing you can do is just pray for all these innocent people in Turkey," he said. "People don't understand. They're saying your family is still back in Turkey -- why are you doing all of this? Why are you talking? I'm just trying to be the voice of all of these innocent people, man. Because all of these innocent people are just going through really tough times. Journalists, innocent people in jail getting tortured and killed and kidnapped. And it's pretty messed up." 
   
   He added that the Knicks' success on the court would be a good way to answer back to the government. 
   
   "If we make playoffs, then that will drive him crazy, so that's what I'm really focused on right now, just make the playoffs and drive this dude crazy," he said. 
   
   Of Erdogan, Kanter added: "That dude is maniac. Think about it. I mean, America ... you've got freedom of whatever you want to say. I mean, it's a free country. But it's not like that in Turkey. You cannot criticize or you cannot even say nothing bad about the dude, Erdogan. Just, like, say he's a bad guy and you're in a prison. It's politics. People can choose or say whatever they want to say. I think right now the situation there is pretty messed up." 
   
   ESPN's Ian Begley and the Associated Press contributed to this report. ||||| Enes Kanter is one of the more outspoken players in the N.B.A., riffing about LeBron James or Kevin Durant or just about anything else that grabs his attention. 
   
   But the Knicks center is never more passionate than when speaking out about his home country of Turkey. And in recent years, as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has amassed more and more power, Kanter has emerged as one of Erdogan’s louder and more prominent critics. 
   
   Kanter’s decision to be vocal has come at a cost. Out of caution, he has not visited Turkey in years, and in May he was detained for hours at an airport in Romania after the Turkish government canceled his travel documents. 
   
   On Wednesday, Turkey’s state-run news agency reported that prosecutors were seeking more than four years in jail for Kanter on charges that he has insulted Erdogan on Twitter. It should be noted that Kanter has 526,000 followers on Twitter, giving him a sizable audience when he has something to say.
target: – New York Knicks center Enes Kanter took news that prosecutors in Turkey want to imprison him about as well as a person could. "Four years? That's it?" he said on Wednesday, per the New York Times. "For all of the trash I've been talking?" Turkish media reported earlier Wednesday that the "fugitive" would be tried in absentia on charges of insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, with prosecutors seeking four years in prison, reports Hurriyet Daily News. Kanter—who was born to Turkish parents in Switzerland and grew up in Turkey before moving to the US—is a vocal supporter of US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, who's been blamed for last year's failed military coup in Turkey, reports ESPN. He continued to bash the leader Wednesday, telling reporters he's a "maniac." "I'm just trying to be the voice of all of these innocent people," said Kanter, who hasn't visited Turkey in years, per the Times. "Journalists, innocent people in jail getting tortured and killed and kidnapped. And it's pretty messed up." The first sign of Turkey's displeasure at his comments came in May, when Kanter's Turkish passport was canceled. He was temporarily detained in Romania before US officials intervened. Kanter has said his family home in Turkey was also raided. The New York Daily News reports Kanter's father publicly disowned him while apologizing to Erdogan in August. The charges now laid against Kanter are "just nothing to me, man, because I'm in America. I'm good," Kanter said. "It's a free country. But it's not like that in Turkey." Acknowledging laws banning criticism of Erdogan, he added, "They can do whatever they want to do."