Adnan

Oktar and the Islamist Sex Cult

Sam Westrop
E: samwestrop@standforpeace.org.uk
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) Oktars 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 channels interfaith programme is a front for
Oktars 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 Oktars 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) Oktars 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

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 Aratrma Vakf (Science Research Foundation)
and is involved with Milli Deerleri Koruma Vakf (Foundation to Protect National Values),
a hardline Turkish nationalist group.
According to journalist Halil Arda, Oktar is a close condante 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 rst book, Judaism and Freemasonry, which was based
on a number of conspiracy theories that state oces, universities, political groups and
media were controlled by a hidden group made up of a collusion between inuential
Jews and Freemasons. Over the next decade, Oktar wrote a number of further books
warning of Jewish inuence 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 gure within Islam -- prophesied to be the redeemer who will rule before
the day of Judgment.
Oktar founded Bilim Aratrma Vakf (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 Hocaclar (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.
Oktars organisation has been described as a key part of Turkish Islamists propaganda
machine8.
1 http://www.harunyahya.com/
2 http://newhumanist.org.uk/2131/sex-ies-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

Stand for Peace 2013

3
Most recently, Oktar has campaigned for Islamic Unity, which he proposes will be a
Turkish-Islamic Union9 . 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 oered billions of
dollars to anyone who could provide him with an intermediate-form fossil
demonstrating evolution13.
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.
Oktars 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
zbudak. 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-oers-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

Stand for Peace 2013

4
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 zbudak, 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
Vak. In March 1997, however, zbudak 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 zbudak. He
published his own essays under that title. We protested about it later, and a
Notary Public claried 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
imsy in the face of other evidence. The Guardian has stated Oktars denials are hard to
believe20.
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. Oktars website for this
publication includes a signicantly 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&le=article&sid=3813
20 http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2007/aug/20/shootingthemessenger
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.listinzulmu.com/siyonistteror.html

Stand for Peace 2013

5
In the 1980s, Oktar's rst book was Judaism and Freemasons, a conspiracy tome which
New Humanist describes as a derivative retread of anti-Semitic clichs in the manner
of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.25 In the book, Oktar claims that Jews and
Freemasons control state oces, 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 animals26.
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 Oktars 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
Oktars Israels 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 Oktars 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 ght against them31.
Despite Oktars 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 Oktars book New Masonic Order cites both
the Holocaust Deception and Judaism and Freemasonry ("Soykrm Yalan" 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
ocial biography contains statements that suggest anti-Semitism and his work titled
What Should a Moslems View of the People of the Book and Zionism Be?, currently posted
on his website, reects anti-Semitic themes common to the Muslim Brotherhood33 .

25 http://newhumanist.org.uk/2131/sex-ies-and-videotape-the-secret-lives-of-harun-yahya
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
31 http://newhumanist.org.uk/2131
32 http://web.archive.org/web/20100406025734/http://listindavasi.netrms.com/harun/Yeni/YMDbibliografya.html
33 http://globalmbreport.org/?p=578

Stand for Peace 2013

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.
Oktars have referred to themselves as Adnan Hocaclar (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 Oktars 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 ve daily
prayers to three, and he dropped the veiling of women.36
By the early 1990s, Oktars group was rigidly hierarchical and all sexual relations were
controlled by Oktar. One recent defector from Oktars 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
Oktars 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 Oktars group used this
material as leverage to obtain political inuence38.
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 articial 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
36 http://newhumanist.org.uk/2131
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.

Stand for Peace 2013

7
According to a dossier compiled by the prosecutors oce, 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
inuence... The encounters were lmed and used to coerce the men in
question to act in the groups 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 favours40
According to the Turkish prosecutors 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 imek, 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 led 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 Oktars 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 eorts
of Turkish television channel A9 to eect 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
A9s 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

Stand for Peace 2013

8
The channels interfaith programme is one of Oktars 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 Turkeys 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 gures from across the
world meeting with Oktar -- all of it lmed 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)

Oktars 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
Oktars 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

Stand for Peace 2013

During programming, many of these women address Oktar as Master47. Their

Facebook proles 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/prole.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

Stand for Peace 2013

10

Oktar the Messiah

As early as 1986, Oktar encouraged his rst group of followers to believe that he was
receiving special instruction from God. Oktars erstwhile teacher Edip Yuksel has written
that in 1988 he broke o 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:
Bedizzaman 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 dierent places. Twice he says he will appear in Istanbul. He will bring
down Darwinism and materialism, he says. Whatever you do, nd 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 todays 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 rst 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/
50 http://newhumanist.org.uk/2131
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. Markeld, Leicester, and

Nairobi, Kenya: The Islamic Foundation

Stand for Peace 2013

11
Qutbs books have been cited as the principal inuence 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 Aratrma Vakf (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 scientic 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
dierent Islamist parties57.
The BAV does very little science. One Guardian journalist notes that the BAVs
books cover topics including refutations of atheism and Darwinism, romanticism as a
weapon of Satan, anti-evolution pseudo-science, armation 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 iers which labeled them Maoists, Communists, Atheists and
Separatists for teaching evolution60.
The BAV mass-mailed a huge numbers of yers to all the branches of the Turkish
government, military and police. On these yers, 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-scientic-creationism
56 ibid.
57 Cumhuriyet, June 29, 1999
58 http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2007/aug/20/shootingthemessenger
59 http://globalmbreport.org/?p=1713
60 http://www.pitch.com/kansascity/your-ocial-program-to-the-scopes-ii-kansas-monkey-trial/Content?oid=2177607

Stand for Peace 2013

12
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 ocial libraries.61
Umit Sayin, a professor at the Istanbul University, has reported:
There is no ght 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 eort by
the BAV against scientists 63 .
According to the Turkish journalist Halil Arda, Oktar is a close condante to a number of
Turkish Islamist radicals64. The Jerusalem Post has claimed Oktar is considered close to
Erdogan65.
When Turkish police raided Oktars premises in 1999, they claimed to have uncovered
links between Oktars 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 name68. Speakers
sent by Oktars group have regularly toured Britain. Earlier this year, Oktars speakers
addressed student societies in London, Manchester, Leeds, Dundee and Glasgow69 .
61 http://ncse.com/rncse/19/6/islamic-scientic-creationism
62 ibid.
63 ibid.
64 http://newhumanist.org.uk/2131/sex-ies-and-videotape-the-secret-lives-of-harun-yahya
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

Stand for Peace 2013

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
Oktars 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 Oktars interfaith eorts72.
Oktars 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 eorts of Oktar on a number of occasions,
describing him as a leading pro-Jewish voice, and has even published an opinion piece by
him75.

70 http://globalmbreport.org/?p=578
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-conicts-with-syria-should-be-resolved-amicably-and-peacefully/2012/09/12/

Stand for Peace 2013

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 core79.
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
77 http://en.a9.com.tr/showdetails.php?id=24&v=156995
78 http://en.a9.com.tr/showdetails.php?id=24&v=156588
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

Stand for Peace 2013

15
Furthermore, like Oktar, the AKP combines Islamism with Turkish Nationalism.
Oktars 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 ve years previously. It was
around this time that reference to Oktars 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 qualies his condemnations of Zionism and Freemasonry by
adding the word atheist before them -- such as atheist Zionists and atheist Freemasons.
Oktars professed new outlook seems to have satised 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 inuential interfaith scholar83 . The JewishPress.com, a leading web-
based Jewish media outlet, has published a number of pu pieces about Oktar and his
followers 84.
Why, however, did Oktar seemingly change his opinions towards Jews?
The salient answer is that, in the authors opinion, Oktar did not change his views. Rather
than denounce anti-Semitism as a dangerous bigotry, Oktar has instead denounced
Darwinism as anti-Semitisms 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 Oktars 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 Deception85.
The views put forth by Oktar and his followers reect, 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

Stand for Peace 2013

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, Turkeys 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 dierent. 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 gure in Turkey, and he enjoys the support of prominent AKP
members. Meanwhile, Jewish and Israeli organisations, desperate for any gure that, at
rst glance, appears to be moderate, have legitimized this charade.

86 http://www.unionoaiths.com/statements_by_adnan_oktar.html
87 Countering Terror, The Times, 19 January 2013

Stand for Peace 2013