Adnan Oktar and the Islamist Sex Cult

Transcription

Adnan Oktar and the Islamist Sex Cult
Sam Westrop
E: [email protected]
W: standforpeace.org.uk
Summary
1) Adnan Oktar (aka Harun Yahya), a Turkish author, fuses Ataturk
nationalism with Turkish Islamism in his attacks upon Jews, Darwinists
and Atheists. His group of followers is best described as a cult; one
accused of using sexual abuse and blackmail to achieve political
leverage.
2) Oktar’s claim, after 2001, to abhor anti-Semitism and to be a voice of
peace and moderation is, in our opinion, a charade designed to bring
him greater influence and respectability. His websites are replete with
anti-Semitic ideas and references to anti-Semitic works that Oktar
claims he did not write.
3) Likewise, the A9 television channel’s interfaith programme is a front for
Oktar’s hardline Islamist ideology, designed to earn Oktar legitimacy.
4) Jewish media and Israeli politicians have mistakenly latched on to Oktar
as a moderate; without grasping the truth about Oktar’s ideology. By
engaging with him and his cult, Jewish leaders run the risk of betraying
bona fide liberal Muslim groups and legitimising Oktar as a pro-peace
and anti-terror voice.
5) Oktar’s group is typical of Turkish Islamism, which increasingly seeks to
adopt and exploit Western processes in order to propagate its
ideological values. Just as the AKP has used democratic methods to
promote anti-democratic ideas, so too is Oktar using interfaith dialoue
to both sanitize himself and propagate anti-Western and anti-Semitic
tropes.
Stand for Peace © 2013
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Adnan Oktar - An Introduction
In Turkey, Adnan Oktar is a well-‐known author who also goes by the name Harun Yahya 1. He is the founder of Islamist group Bilim Araştırma Vakfı (Science Research Foundation) and is involved with Milli Değerleri Koruma Vakfı (Foundation to Protect National Values), a hardline Turkish nationalist group.
According to journalist Halil Arda, Oktar is a close confidante to a number of Turkish Islamist radicals2. He is supported by anti-‐Zionist ultra-‐orthodox Sanhedrin Rabbis in Israel 3, who admire his campaign against “Darwinists”. Further, he has ambitions to create a Turkish-‐Islamic union, which he describes as a new Ottoman Empire running from Eastern Russia to Western Nigeria, all under Turkish leadership.
Oktar combines anti-‐Semitism, Turkish Nationalism, Qutb Islamism, and a strongly messianic message. The organisation employed to convey these ideas is best described as a personality cult -‐ one that has been accused by journalists, politicians and the Turkish courts of using sexual abuse and blackmail to achieve its aims.
In the 1980s, Oktar published his first book, Judaism and Freemasonry, which was based on a number of conspiracy theories that state offices, universities, political groups and media were controlled by a “hidden group” made up of a collusion between influential Jews and Freemasons. Over the next decade, Oktar wrote a number of further books warning of Jewish influence and control. His most infamous book is titled The Holocaust Deception, which he now denies authoring, despite a lot of evidence demonstrating otherwise.
Increasingly, during the late 1980s, Oktar started to refer to himself as the Mahdi4, a messianic like figure within Islam -‐-‐ prophesied to be the redeemer who will rule before the day of Judgment.
Oktar founded Bilim Araştırma Vakfı (BAV) in 1990. The organisation produced hundreds of publications which claimed to “expose the truth” about Darwinism, Atheism, Zionism, Freemasonry and materialism. At the time, members of the BAV were often described as “Adnan Hocacılar” (Supporters of Lord Adnan)5.
According to journalist Fatih Altayli, in 1994 Oktar provided support and signed a number of business contracts with the radical Islamist Welfare Party -‐ best known as the AKP -‐ which had recently taken control of several municipalities, including Istanbul6. The AKP Mayor of Istanbul at the time was Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who later became, and still is, the Islamist Prime Minister of Turkey. Today, Oktar is considered “close” to Erdogan 7. Oktar’s organisation has been described as a key part of Turkish Islamists’ “propaganda machine”8.
1 http://www.harunyahya.com/
2 http://newhumanist.org.uk/2131/sex-‐flies-‐and-‐videotape-‐the-‐secret-‐lives-‐of-‐harun-‐yahya
3 http://us2.harunyahya.com/Detail/T/EDCRFV/productId/15163/ADNAN_OKTAR_S_MEETING_WITH_SANHEDRIN_RABBIS
4 http://web.archive.org/web/20050221142255/19.org/index.php?id=14,194,0,0,1,0
5 http://www.hri.org/news/turkey/anadolu/1999/99-‐11-‐21.anadolu.html
6 http://newhumanist.org.uk/2131
7 Jerusalem Post, September 14, 2011, ‘Eli Yishai not ruling out trip to Turkey. Turkish visitors say 'Mavi Marmara' main source of current friction’
8 The Pioneer (India), June 11, 2010 Friday, ‘Islamist Turkey over-‐reaches’
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Most recently, Oktar has campaigned for “Islamic Unity”, which he proposes will be a “Turkish-‐Islamic Union”9 . His proposal echoes Islamist calls for a Caliphate. Oktar, unlike most Turkish Islamists, regularly invokes the legend of Kamal Ataturk, the famous Turkish secular leader. He remains committed to attacking “Darwinism”, which he still believes to be part of a “Godless”, “Atheist Zionist”, “Freemason” conspiracy 10 11. In 2007, Oktar sent out thousands of unsolicited copies of his book Atlas of Creation -‐ which advocated Islamic creationism -‐ to schools, journalists and politicians across the World. Oktar maintains that Darwin himself is responsible for a “billion deaths”, including the Holocaust12 (which Oktar had previously denied happened at all).
Oktar is extremely adept at both silencing his critics and obtaining a great deal of publicity. In 2008, media across the World reported that Oktar had offered billions of dollars to anyone who could provide him with an “intermediate-‐form fossil demonstrating evolution”13. He is also extremely litigious. In 2007, after a number of websites openly attacked him and his work, Oktar had the Turkish courts rule that the entire Wordpress blogging platform -‐-‐ more than a million individual websites -‐-‐ be banned throughout all of Turkey 14. In 2008, another libel complaint by Oktar ensured that Google Groups, a discussion group website, was also blocked in its entirety. Further, the website of evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, whose work has been consistently targeted by Oktar, has also been made unavailable to Turkish internet users15.
Anti-‐Semitism and Holocaust Denial
In response to a number of websites exploring his comments about Jews and Zionists, Oktar has spent the last few years attempting both to expunge and refute evidence of his past statements and beliefs 16. Oktar’s most poisonous piece of anti-‐Semitism was a book titled the The Holocaust Hoax. The books claims that "what is presented as Holocaust is the death of some Jews due to the typhus plague during the war and the famine towards the end of the war caused by the defeat of the German."17
Oktar now claims this self-‐evidently loathsome book was not his. His story on the matter changes, but he mostly claims the book was actually written by another Turk named Nuri Özbudak. A 1997 article claims:
9 http://harunyahya.com/en/94/categories/Turkish-‐Islamic-‐Union
10 http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/17/science/17book.html?_r=2&ref=science&oref=slogin&
11 http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/1643.htm
12 http://creationofuniverse.com/en/works/156186/the-‐way-‐of-‐the-‐antichrist
13 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/3102103/Creationist-‐Adnan-‐Oktar-‐offers-‐trillion-‐pound-‐prize-‐for-‐fossil-‐proof-‐of-‐
evolution.html
14 http://en.blog.wordpress.com/2007/08/19/why-‐were-‐blocked-‐in-‐turkey/
15 http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/19/religion.turkey
16 http://www.replytowikipedia.com
17 http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2007/aug/20/shootingthemessenger
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“Controversy over the book 'Holocaust Lie -‐ The Inside Story of the Secret History of the Zionist-‐Nazi Co-‐operation and the Lie about Jewish Genocide' continues to attract media attention. In March 1996 Bedri Baykam, a prominent painter and intellectual, published a critique of the book in the Ankara daily Siyah Beyaz (Black and White). Baykam was subsequently sued for slander by Nuri Özbudak, who claims to have written the book under the pseudonym of Harun Yahya. At the trial Baykam exposed the real author as Adnan Oktar (i.e. Adnan Hodja), leader of the Islamist group Bilim Arastirma Vakfi. In March 1997, however, Özbudak withdrew the case.”18
It is unclear how Oktar was “exposed” as Harun Yahya, as this was the pseudonym which Oktar had used for years.
In an interview with Der Spiegel, Oktar again denied he was the author:
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Since you've mentioned Hitler: on your website you condemn the Holocaust and claim that there's a connection between that and Darwinism. But as recently as the 1990s you wrote a book about what you called "The Lie of the Holocaust". Oktar: That book wasn't by me, it was by one of my friends, Nuri Özbudak. He published his own essays under that title. We protested about it later, and a Notary Public clarified the facts. My complaint wasn't against the author himself, it was against the use of my name. My own book on this subject was published later.19
It is striking that Oktar is happy to call a Holocaust Denier his “friend”. Nor, apparently, was he willing to complain “against the author”. Nevertheless, all these denials look flimsy in the face of other evidence. The Guardian has stated Oktar’s denials are “hard to believe”20.
In 2001, Oktar's website actually listed the Holocaust Hoax as one of his books. The link was later deleted, although it is still visible within an archived version 21. Several years ago, Oktar cited himself (3rd footnote) as the author of the very book he supposedly did not write22 . The removal of this evidence was dealt with lazily: the most recent version of this list of references no longer contains the citation -‐-‐ but the footnotes number: 1, 2, 4 23.
It appears that Oktar has tried to cover his tracks. His claim to respect Jews, and even accept Zionism, is contradicted by the other websites he maintains. One publication, titled “Persecution of Palestinians”, includes archetypal nationalist conspiracy stories which claim Israelis murder small children, Israeli politicians revel in the destruction of Palestinian livelihoods and Israeli soldiers rape Arab women. Oktar’s website for this publication includes a significantly large number of quotes by infamous French Holocaust Denier Roger Garaudy 24.
18 http://www.axt.org.uk/antisem/archive/archive1/turkey/turkey.htm
19 http://www.eroicifurori.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=3813
21 http://web.archive.org/web/20010201203600/http://www.harunyahya.com/yazarhakkinda.html
22 http://web.archive.org/web/20021025000647/http://www.harunyahya.org/KITAP/KurtKarti/kurtkarti1.htm
23 http://harunyahya.org/tr/books/750/srailin_K%FCrt_Kart/chapter/6853
24 http://www.filistinzulmu.com/siyonistteror.html
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In the 1980s, Oktar's first book was Judaism and Freemasons, a conspiracy tome which New Humanist describes as “a derivative retread of anti-‐Semitic clichés in the manner of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.”25 In the book, Oktar claims that Jews and Freemasons control state offices, universities, political groups and the media -‐ he writes that, “The principal mission of Jews and Freemasons in Turkey was to erode the spiritual, religious, and moral values of the Turkish people and make them like animals”26. While Oktar has removed most of the references to this book from his website, several still remain 27. Moreover, he has been far less careful about sections in his later books. Global Freemasonry, which is still available on his website, contains a chapter titled ‘Judaism, Zionism and Freemasonry’, which explains how a large number of “Darwinist” and “Atheist Zionist” Jews have colluded with the Freemasons for thousands of years in an attempt to take control of the entire World28.
A number of openly anti-‐Semitic sites promote Oktar’s books. RadioIslam, for example, is an extremist website which claims that Jewish power controls the media, banks, the Internet and, bizarrely, even the Pope29. RadioIslam recommends its readers purchase Oktar’s Israel’s Kurdish Card, a conspiracy book which claims Kurdish independence groups are nothing but pawns of the Jewish State30. A former follower from the 1980s has said of Oktar’s group: “There was a chilling hatred against Jews and Freemasons. The Jews were the people who ruin the world, and we were the good Muslims to fight against them”31.
Despite Oktar’s protestations that he has never written anti-‐Semitic material and to regard Jews as “people of the Book”, as well as his claim to support certain aspects of religious Zionism, the online bibliography of Oktar’s book New Masonic Order cites both the Holocaust Deception and Judaism and Freemasonry ("Soykırım Yalanı" and "Yahudilik ve Masonluk") as being written by him 32. As intelligence digest Global Muslim Brotherhood Report has noted: Although it is claimed that “Oktar has undergone a change and become more tolerant toward Jews, his official biography contains statements that suggest anti-‐Semitism and his work titled What Should a Moslem’s View of the People of the Book and Zionism Be?, currently posted on his website, reflects anti-‐Semitic themes common to the Muslim Brotherhood”33 .
26 http://web.archive.org/web/20051027200329/http://www.jamiat.org.za/whatsnew/hyahya.html
27 http://www.harunyahya.com/bilgi/yazarHakkinda
28 http://harunyahya.com/en/works/677/Global-‐Freemasonry
29 http://www.radioislam.org/islam/english/index_power.htm
30 http://www.radioislam.org/turkey/index.htm
32 http://web.archive.org/web/20100406025734/http://filistindavasi.netfirms.com/harun/Yeni/YMDbibliografya.html
33 http://globalmbreport.org/?p=578
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The Islamist Sex Cult
A variety of critics have accused Oktar of cultivating a personality cult, based around the idolisation of himself, and which is guilty of employing sexual abuse and blackmail. Oktar’s have referred to themselves as “Adnan Hocacılar” (“Disciples of Lord Adnan”)34 .
Eurasianet, a leading news and commentary website, has described the BAV as “a cult-‐like organization that jealously guards the secrets of its considerable wealth, and whose websites mix creationism with Islamic-‐tinged nationalism, Ottoman nostalgia and veneration of the Turkish army.”35
But Oktar’s cult went further than pseudo-‐science and religious dogma -‐-‐ accusations of sexual abuse by Oktar and his members of his group are now commonplace. In the late 1980s, according to one former follower, “Adnan Hodja [Oktar] repudiated all oral traditions relating to the words and deeds of Muhammad (hadith) and decided that the Koran would be the only point of reference ... Henceforth, he reduced the five daily prayers to three, and he dropped the veiling of women.”36
By the early 1990s, Oktar’s group was rigidly hierarchical and all sexual relations were controlled by Oktar. One recent defector from Oktar’s group has recounted, “There were sisters (bacilar), concubines (cariyeler) and brothers (kardesler). The brothers were allowed to marry the concubines, while the sisters were all married to Adnan Oktar.” 37
In 1999, a report presented to Sadettin Tantan, then Turkish Interior Minister, detailed Oktar’s illegal activities, and referred to a rich archive of material held by the group which was being used for blackmail. The archive included video recordings of leading politicians and businessmen in Turkey having “illicit” sex. It is claimed Oktar’s group used this material as leverage to obtain political influence38.
Following the report, Turkish police raided the properties used by Oktar and his followers. Nearly 2,000 policemen conducted simultaneous raids in 40 districts across Istanbul. Hurriyet Daily News reports:
“The actual residences where Adnan Hoca and his disciples had been living were another point of interest. Surprisingly, the woodland villas in Kandilli and Silivri were decorated in the opulent style of the Dolmabahce Palace. The Kandilli villa was actually a complex, consisting of two separate buildings and a total 13 rooms. Inside three iron gates is a small grove, secured by hidden cameras and Dobermans. The police participating in the Silivri operation were treated to an even more unusual sight. The estate, which served as a summer residence for Hoca and his followers, resembled a zoo, complete with camels, horses and two artificial lakes.”39
34 http://www.hri.org/news/turkey/anadolu/1999/99-‐11-‐21.anadolu.html
35 http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav052407.shtml
37 ibid.
38 http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/the-‐force-‐behind-‐the-‐adnan-‐hoca-‐operation-‐agars-‐revenge.aspx?pageID=438&n=the-‐force-‐
behind-‐the-‐adnan-‐hoca-‐operation-‐agars-‐revenge-‐1999-‐11-‐21
39 ibid.
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According to a dossier compiled by the prosecutors’ office, quoted by Turkish Newspaper Cumhuriyet:
"Girls practiced oral sex with designated boys. S. E., one of the victims, said that she had to have sex with 16 men. While practicing sex, they were recorded by hidden cameras and the tapes were delivered to Oktar. The girls who want to leave the group were threatened with exposure of the pornographic tapes.
... Young girls were lured into sex parties with the promise of being admitted to the group, but ended up having to perform sexual acts with men of influence... The encounters were filmed and used to coerce the men in question to act in the group’s interest. In witness statements, the models Tugce Doras and Seckin Piriler give detailed accounts of how members of the group treated them as “sex slaves” and how Oktar and his followers compelled them to perform oral sex and other sexual favours”40
According to the Turkish prosecutor’s indictment, the sect's women are called “engines” because they were used to lure in new male followers -‐-‐ in particular, young university graduates from rich families41 .
Turkish model Ebru Şimşek, who says she is a former devotee of Oktar, has spoken out publicly against him and the ‘cult’, claiming she had refused Oktar's sexual advances42 . In response, Oktar filed an extraordinary three hundred defamation cases against her in court. At the time, a number of counterfeit nude photos of Simsek were also made public.
In his testimony to the Turkish courts, Oktar claimed he was innocent as the intercourse was consensual. He insisted that the sexual practises were religiously permissible under Islam because he and his followers did not have a 'real sexual intercourse with these girls'. Rather, Oktar claimed, he and his followers only engaged in 'anal and oral' sex because according to Koran these acts are not impermissible outside of marriage. According to Oktar’s interpretation: 'vaginal' intercourse was 'haram' but 'anal and oral intercourse' was 'halal'43.
Interfaith Charade: Peace and Love on the A9 Television Channel
Jewish politicians and Jewish media across the World have excitedly embraced the efforts of Turkish television channel A9 to effect and encourage interfaith dialogue – or, as the channel itself puts it, promote “peace and love” between all peoples. Without looking at the actual ideology promoted by the channel, A9 is perceived by a number of media outlets as an example of a moderate Islamic voice that is working to bring Jews and Muslims closer together. While this is indeed the declared purpose of A9, in the opinion of the author, it is a facade that shrouds a hostile Islamist agenda. Just as democracy was a useful means for Turkish Islamists to propagate their anti-‐democratic views, so too is A9’s declared devotion to interfaith dialogue a sanitising veneer that distracts from its more sinister ideas.
40 http://www.elperiodico.com/es/noticias/sociedad/tres-‐anos-‐carcel-‐para-‐autor-‐del-‐polemico-‐atlas-‐creacion-‐72414
41 ibid.
42 http://arama.hurriyet.com.tr/arsivnews.aspx?id=-‐114594
43 http://arama.hurriyet.com.tr/arsivnews.aspx?id=-‐173035
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The channel’s interfaith programme is one of Oktar’s projects. He is a regular presenter, and the programme appears to be little more than an extension of the work done by the BAV, his hardline Islamist organisation.
It is clear that A9 does not just do interfaith work; it also advocates for “Islamic Unity”, attacks “Darwinists”, and voices support for Turkey’s Islamist Government. In a number of videos, Oktar claims that “Islamic Unity” is threatened by secret US plans to bomb Turkey, PKK terrorism, Communist subterfuge and New World order plots.44
The range of guests on A9 television station is diverse. An Israeli spokesperson from Likud or Shas Party on one show45 is followed by someone from the Cordoba Foundation (a Muslim Brotherhood group) or extremist preacher Yusuf Estes the next46 . Israeli politicians and Jewish media across the World, however, do not seem to have realised that Oktar is a leading promoter of alarming conspiracy and vicious anti-‐Semitism.
Earlier this year, Oktar chaired a meeting between Turkish politicians from the AKP, the ruling Islamist Party, and Israelis from the religious Shas Party. This meeting followed dozens of similar ones, with rabbis and leading Jewish political figures from across the world meeting with Oktar -‐-‐ all of it filmed on the A9 television channel.
A former Israeli cabinet minister and two Shas Party officials meet with
AKP MPs and Adnan Oktar (Oktar is fourth from the left)
Oktar’s fellow presenters are twelve young women, all of whom look remarkably similar. It has been suggested that A9 employs the same ‘cult’ aspect that marked Oktar’s previous group, the BAV.
44 http://en.a9.com.tr/showdetails.php?id=24&v=156999
45 http://evolutiondeceit.com/en/Adnan-‐Oktarin-‐Sohbet-‐programlari/115532/
Mr._Adnan_Oktar's_Live_Conversation_with_Mr._Aaron_Lerner_[Member_of_the_Israeli_Likud_Party,_Central_Committee]_on_A9_
TV_(Feb_7,_2012)
46 http://harunyahya.com/en/works/45396/muslim-‐preacher-‐sheikh-‐yusuf-‐estes
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During programming, many of these women address Oktar as “Master”47. Their Facebook profiles contain a number of pictures of Oktar in a style that would be usually found at a shrine48.
47 http://harunyahya.com/en/works/154462/the-‐statements-‐of-‐our-‐prime
48 https://www.facebook.com/PamirDamla https://www.facebook.com/merve.buyukbayrak https://www.facebook.com/didem.rahvanci https://www.facebook.com/gulsahbaloglugucyetmez https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003198405655 https://www.facebook.com/ebrualtan2012 https://www.facebook.com/beyza.bayraktar.5 https://www.facebook.com/asli.sume https://www.facebook.com/CeylanOzbudak https://www.facebook.com/aysekoc.istanbul https://www.facebook.com/kocaman.aylin http://www.facebook.com/kasia.gajewska.144 http://www.facebook.com/didemurerr
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Oktar the Messiah
As early as 1986, Oktar encouraged his first group of followers to believe that he was receiving special instruction from God. Oktar’s erstwhile teacher Edip Yuksel has written that in 1988 he broke off all ties with Oktar after discovering that Oktar believed himself to be the promised Mahdi (Messiah)49 .
One former follower of Oktar, known as Dilek, has attested: “He told us the Mehdi would emerge from Turkey, and he would come with an army of youth. He never said that he was the Mehdi himself, but we all believed that he was.”50
In recent years, Oktar still hints that he is the messiah, or at the very least knows something that no one else does. One response to an e-‐mail from a viewer of his television programme is particularly striking. The email questioned Oktar: “You say, ‘I am not the Mahdi’. You recently said the Mahdi is in Istanbul. So who is this Mahdi who lives in Istanbul? Name him, so we can know and go and swear allegiance to him.” Oktar replied:
Bediüzzaman Said Nursi states quite explicitly that, “The Mahdi will appear in Istanbul.” He gives the date. He will appear in “1400,” he says. He says that in eight different places. Twice he says he will appear in Istanbul. “He will bring down Darwinism and materialism,” he says. Whatever you do, find him. Islam will reign and all Muslims will bind themselves to him. He will become the leader of Muslims and the imam of the world. He will be the imam of the Christian, Jewish and Muslim worlds. So what will we say then? Allahualem. There is no other way.51
The intimation is unmistakable.
Oktar the Islamist
Edip Yuksel, upon meeting Oktar in the 1980s, described Oktar as a “Sunni zealot”, and warned of his Machiavellian politics52. Oktar himself has voiced his admiration for the radical statements of Sayyid Qutb and Abul Ala Maududi.
Sayyid Qutb was the chief ideologue behind today’s Islamist terrorism. In his most famous book, In the Shade of the Quran, Qutb wrote about the “treachery” of the Jews:
The Muslim world has often faced problems as a result of Jewish conspiracies ever since the early days of Islam... History has recorded the wicked opposition of the Jews to Islam right from its first day in Medina. Their scheming against Islam has continued since then to the present moment, and they continue to be its leaders, nursing their wicked grudges and always resorting to treacherous schemes to undermine Islam.53
49 http://whoisharunyahya.wordpress.com/harun-‐yahya-‐tries-‐to-‐hide-‐his-‐past/
51 http://secretbeyondmatter.com/en/works/151430/highlights-‐from-‐mr-‐adnan-‐oktars
52 http://web.archive.org/web/20050221142255/19.org/index.php?id=14,194,0,0,1,0
53 In the Shade of the Qur'an. (Surah 5.) By Sayyid Qutb. Translated by M.A. Salahi and A. A. Shamis, Vol. I. Markfield, Leicester, and Nairobi, Kenya: The Islamic Foundation
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Qutb’s books have been cited as the principal influence over Osama bin Laden and his terror group al Qaeda. As with Oktar, both Qutb and Maududi also, at times, presented their ideas in the language of love and peace. Oktar has said: “I have read [Qutb's and Maududi's] books carefully and have not seen anything encouraging terrorism and violence. I believe that they were very sincere Muslims and true believers.”54
Bilim Araştırma Vakfı (Science Research Foundation), is a radical fundamentalist foundation established by Oktar in 1991. It is considered to have been an integral part of the rise of Turkish Islamism. BAV is believed not to be an independent organisation and the sources of its funding are extremely obscure55. The BAV rose to prominence in the late 1990s, when the AKP had been disbanded by the then-‐secular Turkish Government. The Islamist brand of “scientific creationism” promoted by BAV gathered a great deal of support under these circumstances, and enjoyed close support from other Islamist groups, AKP activists and radical Islamic sects56.
The newspaper Hurriyet recently revealed that Adnan Oktar and BAV maintained strong connections with Necmettin Erbakan, the former extremist leader of a number of different Islamist parties57.
The BAV does very little science. One Guardian journalist notes that the BAV’s books “cover topics including refutations of atheism and Darwinism, romanticism as a weapon of Satan, anti-‐evolution pseudo-‐science, affirmation of miracles, and attacks on Freemasonry, Zionists, Buddhists, and terrorism (Darwin's fault).”58
While BAV has produced a huge number of titles; most of them are Islamist-‐based attacks on the theory of evolution. Increasingly, the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist organisations are also campaigning against evolution -‐-‐ claiming it to be a dangerous and immoral force59.
In 1998, the BAV launched a campaign against Turkish academics who taught the theory of natural selection. Academics have said they were harassed and threatened. Many were the subject of fliers which labeled them “Maoists”, “Communists”, “Atheists” and “Separatists” for teaching evolution60.
The BAV mass-‐mailed a huge numbers of flyers to all the branches of the Turkish government, military and police. On these flyers, the BAV included photographs and names of these scientists. On Dec. 2, 1998, the prominent Islamist newspaper Akit published the names, addressed and photographs of all the scientists who had signed a statement in support of evolution. Akit claimed these academics were working against Islam.
54 Harun Yahya: Win over Darwinism, By P.K. Abdul Ghafour. Arab News. Nov. 23, 2008.
55 http://ncse.com/rncse/19/6/islamic-‐scientific-‐creationism
56 ibid.
57 Cumhuriyet, June 29, 1999
60 http://www.pitch.com/kansascity/your-‐official-‐program-‐to-‐the-‐scopes-‐ii-‐kansas-‐monkey-‐trial/Content?oid=2177607
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In the Turkish Parliament, fundamentalists also proposed massive government book-‐
burnings: “In February 1999, a representative from the fundamentalist Virtue Party proposed a Bill of Anti-‐Evolution to ban teaching of evolution in the schools and to collect and destroy all the books about evolution in the official libraries.”61
Umit Sayin, a professor at the Istanbul University, has reported: “There is no fight against the creationists now. They have won the war ... In 1998, I was able to motivate six members of the Turkish Academy of Sciences to speak out against the creationist movement. Today, it's impossible to motivate anyone. They're afraid they'll be attacked by the radical Islamists and the BAV.”62
Sayin also believes that the Turkish Government tacitly encourages the ongoing effort by the BAV against scientists 63 .
According to the Turkish journalist Halil Arda, Oktar is a close confidante to a number of Turkish Islamist radicals64. The Jerusalem Post has claimed Oktar is considered “close” to Erdogan65.
When Turkish police raided Oktar’s premises in 1999, they claimed to have uncovered links between Oktar’s group and Necmettin Erbakan, the former leader of the Welfare Party (RP) and spiritual leader of the Islamists66. Hurriyet Daily News claimed:
“It is known that Erbakan's son Fatih has close links with the Adnan Hoca group and that the former RP leader himself had often met with Adnan Hoca. The press provided additional evidence of this close relationship. The Erbakan-‐
Adnan Hoca was particularly obvious when the daily Milli Gazette, Erbakan's mouthpiece, published articles criticizing the operation against Adnan Hoca under such headlines as ‘Slander and Mudslinging Campaign’.”67
Oktar outside of Turkey
Oktar has an audience outside of Turkey. Increasingly, his books are popular in the UK. Ta-‐Ha Publishers has published eight titles by Oktar. According to RadioIslam: “All of the books have been sold out in a couple of months after their release. ... There has been a tremendous reaction by the readers ... he has become a household name”68. Speakers sent by Oktar’s group have regularly toured Britain. Earlier this year, Oktar’s speakers addressed student societies in London, Manchester, Leeds, Dundee and Glasgow69 .
61 http://ncse.com/rncse/19/6/islamic-‐scientific-‐creationism
62 ibid.
63 ibid.
65 Jerusalem Post, September 14, 2011, ‘Eli Yishai not ruling out trip to Turkey. Turkish visitors say 'Mavi Marmara' main source of current friction’
66 http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/the-‐force-‐behind-‐the-‐adnan-‐hoca-‐operation-‐agars-‐revenge.aspx?pageID=438&n=the-‐force-‐
behind-‐the-‐adnan-‐hoca-‐operation-‐agars-‐revenge-‐1999-‐11-‐21
67 ibid.
68 http://www.radioislam.org/turkey/index.htm
69 http://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-‐education/uk-‐muslim-‐students-‐boycott-‐lectures-‐on-‐evolution/story-‐e6frgcjx-‐1226208363347
13
The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), an umbrella group of UK Islamic groups (but regarded as under the dominance of Islamist groups), has promoted events organised by Oktar’s organisation70. Further, the MCB has recommended Oktar and his writings as an important source of information for teachers 71.
Several years ago, Oktar paid for a number of advertisements for his books to feature on the sides of London buses.
Jewish media, and even Israeli politicians, have also embraced Oktar -‐-‐ believing him to be an important voice of moderation. Oktar has been featured in a number of Jewish and Israeli publications, which have praised Oktar’s interfaith efforts72. Oktar’s disciples at the A9 television station, many of them presenters themselves, have also written for the Jerusalem Post73, Arutz Sheva74, the Jewish Press, inter alia. The editor of the Jewish Press has praised the efforts of Oktar on a number of occasions, describing him as a leading pro-‐Jewish voice, and has even published an opinion piece by him75.
71 http://harunyahya.com/en/works/118292/the-‐report-‐of-‐muslim-‐council
72 http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-‐news/turkish-‐israeli-‐pols-‐meet-‐to-‐solve-‐mutual-‐disagreements-‐with-‐love/2013/01/24/?
src=ataglance
73 http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-‐EdContributors/Article.aspx?id=294336
74 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/12568
75 http://www.jewishpress.com/indepth/opinions/the-‐conflicts-‐with-‐syria-‐should-‐be-‐resolved-‐amicably-‐and-‐peacefully/2012/09/12/
14
What does Oktar actually believe?
Oktar maintains a bizarre range of views. Looking at his apparent devotion to both Qutb and Ataturk, the personality cult Oktar has created around himself, as well as his ostensible change of attitude towards Jews, it is tempting to dismiss Oktar as unhinged. This, however, would be a mistake -‐-‐ there is a sinister ideology behind Oktar and his group which should not be taken lightly.
The conspiracy theories encouraged by Oktar can be found echoed by extremist groups across the World. As mentioned, Oktar is devoted to attacking “Darwinism”, which he regards as the work of the devil76 -‐-‐ a conspiracy supposedly cooked up by Freemasons, Zionists and the Kurdish terror group PKK77 , the Kurdish separatist group which he claims is supported by the American and British secret services 78.
The underlying ideology appears to be a fusion of Turkish Nationalism and AKP-‐style Islamism. Oktar makes no secret of his admiration for the much-‐admired secular leader Ataturk. He claims the notoriously anti-‐religious Ataturk was actually “deeply devout”, and only installed a system of secularism in order to “close down the way for hypocrisy and pave the way for us to experience a sincere form of Islam to the core”79.
This is not as paradoxical as one might think. Increasingly, mainstream Turkish Islamists are working to re-‐invent Ataturk as an inspiration for all Turkish might -‐ including Turkish Islamism. Prime Minister Erdogan has, on a number of occasions, addressed his fellow AKP members in front of portraits of both himself and Mustafa Kemal Ataturk80. The attempt to create a similar personality cult is clear. 76 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUcGS8bJrPU
79 http://harunyahya.com/en/works/16299/ataturk-‐was-‐a-‐genuinely-‐devout
80 http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/oct/24/recep-‐tayyip-‐erdogan-‐turkey
15
Furthermore, like Oktar, the AKP combines Islamism with Turkish Nationalism.
Oktar’s call for “Islamic Unity” -‐ which he cloaks in the language of progressive human rights, interfaith dialogue and global justice -‐ sounds remarkably similar to Muslim Brotherhood designs for a global Caliphate.
After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Oktar changed his message. He mostly stopped his diatribes against Jews, and started saying that “Darwinism” is the real cause of the very anti-‐Semitism that he himself was promoting just four or five years previously. It was around this time that reference to Oktar’s Holocaust Deception was removed from his websites.
Not long later, Oktar published a new book, titled Islam Denounces Terrorism81. As with anti-‐Semitism, Oktar now claims that acts of terror are a corollary of the sinister ‘Darwinism’ that has supposedly infected society. One commentator notes that since this change of tactics, Oktar now qualifies his condemnations of Zionism and Freemasonry by adding the word atheist before them -‐-‐ such as ‘atheist Zionists’ and ‘atheist Freemasons’.
Oktar’s professed new outlook seems to have satisfied a number of people. The Stephen Roth Institute, based at the University of Tel Aviv, has said: “It should be noted, however, that Adnan Oktar has undergone a change and become more tolerant toward Jews and others; he now works toward promoting inter-‐religious dialogue.”82 Jewish media warmly describes Oktar as an influential interfaith scholar83 . The JewishPress.com, a leading web-‐
based Jewish media outlet, has published a number of puff pieces about Oktar and his followers 84.
Why, however, did Oktar seemingly change his opinions towards Jews?
The salient answer is that, in the author’s opinion, Oktar did not change his views. Rather than denounce anti-‐Semitism as a dangerous bigotry, Oktar has instead denounced Darwinism as anti-‐Semitism’s cause. Further, rather than apologise for his former anti-‐
Semitism, he chose to deny he had ever held anti-‐Jewish views or had written anti-‐Semitic tracts; despite the wealth of evidence indicating otherwise.
Other Jewish anti-‐racism organisations have not been fooled by Oktar’s re-‐invention. In 2009, the Anti-‐Defamation League released a statement which described Oktar as “an anti-‐Semitic Turkish writer whose articles demonize Jews who support Israel as ‘godless’ and blames them for committing atrocities. One article penned by Yahya [Oktar] quotes French Holocaust denier Roger Garaudy and another cites Yahya's own book titled The Holocaust Deception”85.
The views put forth by Oktar and his followers reflect, to some extent, the development of the Turkish Islamism as practised by the AKP. Just as Erdogan and other hardline Islamists have morphed their rhetoric from violent anti-‐democratic sentiment to the promotion of a softer Islamism through democratic means; so too has Oktar changed his brand of conspiracy theory and cult practise. No longer are Zionists the cause of all that is ill with the world; now, Zionists are merely misguided and exploited by the ‘atheists’ and ‘darwinists’ who work against the “peace and love” that Oktar and his followers have declared they wish to work towards. Oktar 81 http://harunyahya.com/en/Belgeseller/1162/Islam-‐denounces-‐terrorism
82 http://www.tau.ac.il/Anti-‐Semitism/asw2004/turkey.htm
83 http://harunyahya.com/en/Dunyadan-‐Yankilar/118530/Interfaith_Leaders_Are_Going_To_Istanbul_To_Meet_With_Adnan_Oktar_
84 http://www.jewishpress.com/tag/adnan-‐oktar/
85 http://archive.adl.org/PresRele/ASUS_12/5564_12.htm
16
has said, “The real problem is the atheist zionists. They are the worst danger. They control and are controlled by the freemasons. Satan has locked these two systems both together.”86
But why does Adnan Oktar promote a form of Islamism that publicly embraces Jews, and even certain strains of Zionism, while he continues to promote manifestly anti-‐Semitic views? The evolving face of Turkish Islamism explains the answer. Decades ago, before the Muslim Brotherhood reached any such epiphany, Turkey’s AK Party concluded that it was by embracing the democratic process that they could best legitimize and propagate an anti-‐democratic message.
It has worked well. A few weeks ago, the London Times leader opined:
“Political Islam is perfectly compatible with democracy. Turkey has been governed since 2012 by the Justice and Development Party, an Islamist organisation. There is no necessary reason that the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt should, having won an election, exercise power autocratically.”87
Oktar is no different. By presenting a form of Islamism that can ‘engage’ with Zionism, he is sanitising an ideology that poses a latent threat to liberal democracy. It is tempting to dismiss Oktar and his entourage of female cult members as a bizarre oddity. However, Oktar remains a popular figure in Turkey, and he enjoys the support of prominent AKP members. Meanwhile, Jewish and Israeli organisations, desperate for any figure that, at first glance, appears to be moderate, have legitimized this charade.
86 http://www.unionoffaiths.com/statements_by_adnan_oktar.html
87 ‘Countering Terror’, The Times, 19 January 2013

Adnan Oktar and the Islamist Sex Cult

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