| Adnan Oktar |
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| 1956 births | |
| people from ankara | |
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| living people | |
| turkish people | |
| creationists | |
| islamic politics and islamic world studies | |
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BIOGRAPHY Born in Ankara in 1956, Adnan Oktar lived there through his high school years. In 1979 he moved to Istanbul to attend an Interior Design -study at Mimar Sinan University , but did not graduate. In the first half of the 1980s, he gathered young students around him, to teach them his views about Islam, in which he was, according to his former mentor Edip Yüksel , “mixing Mysticism http://web.archive.org/web/20050221142255/19.org/index.php?id=14,194,0,0,1,0 with scientific rhetoric”. These young people belonged to socially active and prominent families of Istanbul which had a high economic status. From 1982 to 1984, a group of 20 to 30 was formed. In 1986, Adnan Oktar published the book, ''Judaism and Freemasonry''. The book suggests that the principal mission of the Jews and Freemasons in Turkey was to erode the spiritual, religious and moral values of the Turkish people and, thus, make them like animals, as stated in what Oktar refers to as the "Distorted Torah." ''LIFE STORY OF ADNAN OKTAR'' Jamiatul Ulama, Ask the Jamiat PALESTINE ZIONISM: A SECULAR NATIONALISM THAT BETRAYED JUDAISM , Harun Yaha, An Invitation to the Truth Oktar asserts that "the materialist standpoint, Evolution theory, anti-religious and immoral lifestyles were indoctrinated to the society as a whole" by Jews and Freemasons. Shortly after the publication of ''Judaism and Freemasonry'', Adnan Oktar was arrested and imprisoned. He was transferred to Bakırköy Mental Hospital and placed under observation. After 19 months, Oktar was released.http://www.harunyahya.com/theauthor2.php In 1990, he founded the BAV (''Bilim Araşırma Vakfı'' (Foundation for Scientific Research)), through which he still effectively functions. His followers gathered around the BAV are usually named as ''Adnan Hocacılar'' ("Adherents of Adnan the Hodja") by the public. Adnan Oktar was declared the Honorary President of the BAV. The Foundation ensured the performance of several activities; the members of the foundation published books and conducted cultural studies, held panels, discussions and conferences claiming to protect and revive moral values. In 1995, he also founded ''Millî Değerleri Koruma Vakfı'' (Foundation for Protection of National Values), which links him to traditional Islamist and Nationalist circles. ANTISEMITISM In 1996 the BAV distributed a book entitled the ''Soykırım Yalanı'' (" Holocaust Lie") (originally published in 1995). http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/organizations/harunyahya.html The publication of ''Soykırım Yalanı'' sparked much public debate. http://www.axt.org.uk/antisem/archive/archive1/turkey/turkey.htm This book 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 Germans''” http://web.archive.org/web/19990429183644/www.webcom.com/vural/Eng/books/HOLOCAUST.HTML. In March 1996, a leading Turkish painter and intellectual, Bedri Baykam , published a strongly worded critique in the Ankara daily newspaper Siyah-Beyaz (Black and White). A legal suit for slander was brought to him. During the trial in September, Baykam exposed the real author of the book as Adnan Oktar. To prevent more damage, the case was withdrawn in March 1997.http://www.axt.org.uk/antisem/archive/archive2/turkey/turkey.htm#Parties Several years later, it was noted that Adnan Oktar has undergone a change and become more tolerant toward Jews and others; he now works toward promoting inter-religious dialogue.”http://www.tau.ac.il/Anti-Semitism/asw2004/turkey.htm Nowadays he rejects allegations of , calling some verses “false exhortations”http://www.islamictimes.co.uk/content/view/205/50/. CAMPAIGN AGAINST EVOLUTION In early 1998, Adnan Oktar and the BAV launched a campaign against Darwinism . Thousands of free copies of Adnan Oktar's book, ''The Evolution Deceit'', and the booklets based on this book were distributed within Turkey. BAV also spearheaded an effort to attack Turkish academics who taught Evolution ary theory. A number of academics were harassed, threatened and slandered in fliers that labeled them " Communist s, Separatist s and Maoists " for teaching evolution.Article by Tony Ortega: http://www.pitch.com/issues/2005-05-05/news/feature_1.htmlArticle in Cumhuriyet Newspaper June 25, 1999 http://web.archive.org/web/20010803145236/www.geocities.com/evrimkurami/mahkeme2.html In 1999, six of the professors won a civil court case against BAV for defamation and were awarded $6,000 each.http://www.ncseweb.org/resources/rncse_content/vol19/8300_islamic_scientific_creationism_12_30_1899.asp The court decided that "''a severe and unjust attack was perpetrated on the plaintiffs' personal rights, by listing the names of the scientists defending the theory of evolution and describing them as communists and separatists on the flyers distributed by the foundation."'' Professor Ümit Sayın summed up the effect of BAV's campaign when, in 2005, he said: ''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''.http://www.pitch.com/issues/2005-05-05/news/feature_1.html WRITINGS Oktar has written numerous books under the name Harun Yahya (Harun ().http://www.tabsir.net/?p=122 He also has produced various works on Zionism and Freemasonry , accusing Zionists of Racism and arguing that Zionism and Freemasonry have had significant negative effects on world history and politics. Finally, he has written more than a hundred books describing the morals of the Qur'an and faith related issues . Oktar's books on faith-related topics attempt to communicate the existence and oneness of God according to the Islamic faith, and are written with the main purpose of introducing Islam to those who are strangers to religion. Each of his books on science-related topics stresses his views on the might, sublimity, and majesty of God. These books attempt to display for non-Muslims what Oktar claims to be signs of the existence of God, and the excellence of his creation. A sub-group within this series are the series of "Books Demolishing the Lie of Evolution", a critique of the ideas of Materialism , Evolution , Darwinism , and Atheism . Oktar asserts that Buddhism as being a false religion built upon idolatry and falsehood. He calls Buddhist rituals "meaningless" and "empty". He has also charged that Intelligent Design is a tool of Satan . ''The "Intelligent Design" Distraction'' , Harun Yahya, Harun Yahya International © 2007 The Atlas of Creation His latest (October 2006) publication is '' The Atlas Of Creation '', published by Global Publishing, Istanbul, Turkey.1 The book is edited by Timothy Mossman, with no indication to his affiliation. This volume with near 800 glossy pages contains high quality animal and fossil image prints. Many of the photographs were obtained without the permission of copyright holders, a violation that will likely prevent the release of this book on the mainstream market. Tens of thousands of copies of the book have been delivered, on an unsolicited basis, to schools, prominent researchers and research institutes throughout Europe and the United States2. E.g. several schools in France have received a copy as well as prominent researchers at Utrecht University and the University of Tilburg in the Netherlands, and the Imperial College London , where the arguments used by the book to undermine evolution have been criticized as not logical while evolutionary biologist Kevin Padian has stated that Oktar has no understanding of the basic evidence for evolution.http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/315/5814/925a ''In Europe’s Mailbag: A Glossy Attack on Evolution''. When the book was sent to French schools and universities, controversy resulted and the book sparked further concern about Islamic radicalism in France. CONTROVERSY In April 2007, Oktar complained to the court that the online news source Ek3 Sözlük (http://www.sourtimes.org), where members can add and edit comments on anything, contained defamatory remarks about him. The court reviewed the complaint and ordered the service provider to close the site to public access. Access to another news website, (http://www.Superpoligon.com), was also restricted following Oktar's complaint. http://www.ifex.org/fr/content/view/full/82758/ IFEX Alert In August of the same year, Oktar was able to get a Turkish court to block internet access to The Guardian August 20, 2007 EXTERNAL LINKS Sites based on the works of Harun Yahya: Critical articles Other Articles
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