ISTANBUL

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan played basketball with former NBA star Shaquille O’Neal on Tuesday at the Basketball Development Center in Istanbul, according to a social media post shared by the Turkish leader.

🏀 Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan played basketball with former NBA star Shaquille O’Neal

✍️ Later, Erdogan and O’Neal signed basketballs together pic.twitter.com/8aFF6rpd78

— Anadolu English (@anadoluagency) January 20, 2026

In a post on the Turkish social media platform NSosyal, Erdogan shared images featuring a basketball and Turkish flag emoji. The photos showed Erdogan and O’Neal playing basketball, shaking hands and exchanging signed balls following the game.

Erdogan and O’Neal also posed for photos with students at the development center. The president was accompanied by senior Turkish officials during the event.

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