by Kingseyi Thu Jul 19, 2018 12:49 pmTurkish Authorities jailed a Turkish
Televangelist and 150 of his followers
pending trial on Thursday, police said, on
charges including sexual abuse of
children, blackmail and forming a criminal
gang.
Adnan Oktar, an Islamic preacher and a prolific
writer on creationism, ran his own television
channel where he hosted talk shows on religious
values that featured a bevy of heavily made-up
women in tight clothing, dubbed “kittens’’.
He was sometimes shown dancing with the
women and singing with young men, his
“lions’’.
The police financial crimes unit detained 187
people last week in raids across five provinces
targeting Oktar and his followers.
Oktar denied the charges against him, saying he
lived by the law and was not a gang leader,
according to his testimony to police obtained by
Anadolu.
He was captured in his car, moments after
having fled his villa in Cengelkoy on the Asian
side of Istanbul, local media has reported.
The Istanbul prosecutor’s office has labeled
Oktar’s group a criminal gang and said it aimed
to commit crimes including sexual abuse of
children, sexual assault, money laundering,
depriving people of their freedom, fraud, bribery
and torture, state-run Anadolu said.
The preacher began forming groups of followers
in the late 1970s and has frequently run afoul of
Turkish authorities.
He has faced a number of trials, including on
previous charges of forming a criminal gang, but
was acquitted.
The broadcasting regulator suspended one of his
programs in February, saying its blend of
theological discussion and dancing violated
gender equality and women’s rights.
Oktar, who argues that Darwin’s theory of
evolution is the root of global terrorism, has
previously accused British intelligence of
requesting the Turkish authorities to take action
against him.
According to his website, Oktar has written more
than 300 books, translated into 73 languages.
Under his pen-name Harun Yahya, he gave
secularist France a scare in 2007 by mass-
mailing thousands of free copies of his “Atlas of
Creation’’ to schools and libraries across the
country.
The Education Ministry ordered school
headmasters to seize and remove copies of the
glossy book, which argues that all living things
were created by God exactly as they are formed
today.
Televangelist and 150 of his followers
pending trial on Thursday, police said, on
charges including sexual abuse of
children, blackmail and forming a criminal
gang.
Adnan Oktar, an Islamic preacher and a prolific
writer on creationism, ran his own television
channel where he hosted talk shows on religious
values that featured a bevy of heavily made-up
women in tight clothing, dubbed “kittens’’.
He was sometimes shown dancing with the
women and singing with young men, his
“lions’’.
The police financial crimes unit detained 187
people last week in raids across five provinces
targeting Oktar and his followers.
Oktar denied the charges against him, saying he
lived by the law and was not a gang leader,
according to his testimony to police obtained by
Anadolu.
He was captured in his car, moments after
having fled his villa in Cengelkoy on the Asian
side of Istanbul, local media has reported.
The Istanbul prosecutor’s office has labeled
Oktar’s group a criminal gang and said it aimed
to commit crimes including sexual abuse of
children, sexual assault, money laundering,
depriving people of their freedom, fraud, bribery
and torture, state-run Anadolu said.
The preacher began forming groups of followers
in the late 1970s and has frequently run afoul of
Turkish authorities.
He has faced a number of trials, including on
previous charges of forming a criminal gang, but
was acquitted.
The broadcasting regulator suspended one of his
programs in February, saying its blend of
theological discussion and dancing violated
gender equality and women’s rights.
Oktar, who argues that Darwin’s theory of
evolution is the root of global terrorism, has
previously accused British intelligence of
requesting the Turkish authorities to take action
against him.
According to his website, Oktar has written more
than 300 books, translated into 73 languages.
Under his pen-name Harun Yahya, he gave
secularist France a scare in 2007 by mass-
mailing thousands of free copies of his “Atlas of
Creation’’ to schools and libraries across the
country.
The Education Ministry ordered school
headmasters to seize and remove copies of the
glossy book, which argues that all living things
were created by God exactly as they are formed
today.
