Adnan Oktar

Adnan Oktar , the birth name of Harun Yahya (Ankara, 1956 ) is a prominent figure in Turkey and a fervent advocate of creationism in the controversy between creation and evolution. It is considered by some as the Muslim leader defending creationism. ¹ It is against Zionism and Freemasonry . ^{2 3} and sees them as closely related movements, even though they denounce anti-Semitism and terrorism. ^{4 5}

Adnan founded the Science Research Foundation (SRF, or, in Turkish, Bilim Araştırma Vakfı, or BAV), whose stated objective is “to [establish] peace, tranquility and love,” ⁶ although BAV Describes in the media as “a secret Islamic sect” ⁷ or a cult, jealously guarding the secrets of its considerable wealth. ” ⁸Harun Yahya created the Science Research Foundation (SRF, or, in Turkish, BAV) accused of criminal activities (harassment, persecution and threats to university professors in Turkey, trial in process).

Biography

Born in Ankara in 1956, Adnan Oktar has lived there all his school years. In 1979, he moved to Istanbul to attend an interior design course at Mimar Sinan University which he left before he graduated.

In the early 1980s, the young students gathered around him to share their views on Islam. According to his former mentor, Edip Yüksel, Adnan was trying to “combine mysticism with scientific rhetoric.” ⁹ These students belonged to the active society and to prominent families of Istanbul that had a high economic status. ¹⁰ From 1982 to 1984, he formed a group of 20 to 30 people.

In 1986 Adnan Oktar published the book Judaism and Freemasonry. The book suggests that the main mission of Jews and Masons in Turkey is to erode the spiritual, religious and moral values ​​of the Turkish people and therefore refers to them as “distorted Torah.” ^{10 11} Oktar states that “the materialist view of Jews and Masons, the theory of evolution, anti-religious attitudes and their resulting lifestyles are immoral and thus indoctrinating society as a whole.” ¹⁰

Shortly after the publication of Judaism and Freemasonry, Adnan Oktar was arrested and imprisoned. He was transferred to the Psychiatric Hospital of Bakırköy and placed under observation. After 19 months, Oktar was released. ¹²

In 1990 he founded the Scientific Research Foundation (SRF), through which it still functions effectively. Members of the SRF are sometimes called Adnan Hocacılar (“Adherents of Adnan the Hodja”) by the public. ¹³

In 1995 he also founded Millî Değerleri Koruma Vakfı (Foundation for National Securities Protection), through which he maintains relationships with other individuals and traditional Islamist and nationalist organizations.

Holocaust denialism

In 1996 the SRF distributed a book that was originally published the previous year, entitled Soykırım Yalanı (“Lies of the Holocausto”) . ¹⁴ The publication of Soykırım Yalanı has aroused much public debate. ¹⁵ This book states that “what is presented as a Holocaust is the death of some Jews which was due to the typhus plague during World War II and the hunger toward the end of the war brought about by the defeat of the Germans.” ¹⁶ In March 1996, a Turkish and intellectual painter, Bedri Baykam, published an energetic review of the book in Ankara in the Siyah-Beyaz newspaper (“Black and White”). During the trial in September, Baykam stated that the real author of the book was Adnan Oktar. ¹⁵ The claim was withdrawn in March 1997 ^{17 18}

In 2004 the Stephen Roth Institute of Tel-Aviv University expressed the view that Adnan Oktar has increased his tolerance for others, saying that he “now works to promote interreligious dialogue.”

Oktar today claims that anti-Semitism has pagan roots and Darwinists ⁴ publicly calls on all Muslims to have “a tolerant and friendly attitude towards other religions.” ¹⁹

Campaign against the evolution

In early 1998, Adnan Oktar and the SRF launched a campaign against Darwinism. They made thousands of free copies of Adnan Oktar’s book, The Deception of Evolution, and the booklets on the basis of this book were distributed throughout the country.

The SRF also spearheaded an attempted attack on Turkish academics imparting evolutionary theory. A number of members of the cloister were subjected to harassment, threats and slander in flyers labeled “Maoists” for the teaching of evolution. In 1999 six of the teachers won a civil suit against the SRF for defamation and were compensated with a large sum of money ²⁰

In 2005 Professor Ümit Sayın summarized the effect of the SRF campaign when he told The Pitch:

In 1998, I had the opportunity to motivate six members of the Turkish Academy of Sciences to speak out against the creationist movement. Today it is impossible to motivate anyone. They fear that they will be attacked by radical Islamists and BAV.

Writings

Oktar has written numerous books under the name Harun Yahya (Harun) and Yahya (John)), arguing against evolution. He also claims that evolution is directly related to the supposed evils of materialism, Nazism, communism, and Buddhism. ²¹ Most of the resources he uses in his struggle against the theory of evolution are identical with the arguments of Christian creationists. ²²

He has also produced several works on Zionism and Freemasonry, accusing the Zionists of racism and wielding the argument that Zionism and Freemasonry have had significant negative effects on world history and politics.

Oktar has written books of faith on topics related to the attempt to communicate the existence and uniqueness of God according to the Islamic faith, and are written with the main objective of introducing to Islam those who are foreign to religion. Each of his science books emphasizes topics related to his views on the power, sublimity, and majesty of God. These books try to show non-Muslims the signs of God’s existence, and the excellence of His creation. A subgroup within this series is the series of “Books to demolish the lie of Evolution,” a critique of the ideas of materialism, evolution, Darwinism and atheism.

Many of Oktar’s books have been converted to high resolution, videos that are freely downloadable on the Internet. ^{2. 3}

Oktar states that Buddhism is a false religion based on idolatry and falsehood. ²¹ He calls the Buddhist rituals “meaningless” and “empty.” He has also stated that intelligent design is a tool of Satan. ²⁴

The Atlas of Creation

His most recent publication (October 2006) is the Atlas of Creation, published by Global Publishing, Istanbul, Turkey. ²⁵ Tens of thousands of copies of the book have been delivered, on an unsolicited basis, to schools, leading researchers and research institutes throughout Europe and the United States. ^{3 26} For example, several schools in France have received a copy, as well as leading researchers at the University of Utrecht and the University of Tilburg in the Netherlands, and Imperial College London, where the arguments used by the book to undermine the Evolution have been criticized, of course, while evolutionary biologist Kevin Padian has stated that Oktar does not have the basic understanding of evidence for evolution. When the book was sent to French schools and universities, it provoked controversy and fueled a growing concern about Islamic radicalism in France. ³

Controversy

In April 2007, Oktar filed a lawsuit against the owners of eksi sözlük, a virtual community. The court examined the complaint and ordered the service provider to close the public access site. The site was temporarily suspended so the entry into Oktar could be canceled and blocked. ²⁷ Access to another news website was also restricted following Oktar’s complaint [30].

In August of the same year, Oktar was able to obtain from a Turkish court an authorization to block Internet access to WordPress.com to all Internet users in Turkey. His lawyers contended that blogs on WordPress.com contained slanderous material against Oktar, and his colleague on WordPress.com said he was not willing to remove them. ^{28 29} On 10 April 2008, public access to Google Groups has been blocked in Turkey following a seemingly successful defamation suit against Adnan Oktar. ³⁰ As of May 5, 2008, the ban remains in effect for TTNet users.

On September 28, 2008 publicly announced a millionaire reward to anyone who could demonstrate the existence of an intermediate fossil or transition between one species and another, which could prove the veracity of Darwinism.

References