The last thing I would have expected would be for the Turkish government to arrest Adnan Oktar, who, as a creationist, writes under the name of Harun Yahya. After all, Erdogan’s neo-Islamist government has stopped teaching evolution in secondary schools, most likely because it contravenes Qur’anic doctrine. Oktar was the author of the three-volume, lavishly printed The Atlas of Creation, which was sent gratis to hundreds of biologists throughout the world. There was some big money behind that! Surely the government has no beef with his creationism.
But Oktar is a bizarre character, and has other behaviors that aren’t so congenial to a sexually reserved society. He’s famous, for instance, for his coterie of sexualized and surgically enhanced blonde “kittens”, who worship him and hang on his every word (see the documentary below which I’ve posted before), and who are entertained by kitten-ish belly dancers. He’s also been arrested multiple times for crimes ranging from financial misdealings to drugs to espionage. But he’s served very little time in jail.
Earlier this year, though, Oktar got into conflicts with the government, first accusing the Turkish Directorate of Religious affairs of getting money from casinos and sales of booze, and then being slapped with a restraining order for using possibly coerced belly dancers on his television show, with that show subsequently being suspended for mixing belly dancing and theology—a no-no in Turkey. (The excuse was that the show “violated gender equality and women’s rights.”) To see that story, click on the screenshot below:
Now, according to both Reuters and the Turkish Hurriet Daily News (click on screenshot below) Oktar and 234 (Reuters says 160) followers have been arrested, and various property seized (arms, armored vehicles, body armor, etc.) for fraud, forming a criminal gang and sexual abuse.
From Reuters:
Hurryiet newspaper said police raided Oktar’s house at Cengelkoy on the Asian side of Istanbul, detaining him and his guards who tried to resist and flee.
Police said they had so far arrested 166 people out of 235 sought suspects.
Accompanied by police, Oktar held up his handcuffed arms as he emerged after a mandatory health check at hospital before being taken to a police station in Istanbul.
State-run Anadolu news agency broadcast footage of a police helicopter hovering over the area where one raid was being conducted and said a police maritime unit was also involved in the operation.
I think Oktar’s in bigger trouble this time: you don’t mess with Erdogan’s government and get away with it.
Here’s Oktar doing the perp walk. It couldn’t happen to a nicer guy! As for the kittens, well, I guess they’ll be put up for adoption:
h/t: Phil
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One of my colleagues received the Atlas of Creation years ago, and we’ve had some pretty good laughs and “WTF?” moments looking through it. Truly bizarre set of books.
Typo in the title: It’s “Oktar”.
Fixed, thanks.
Thank you Felix.
The kittens remind me of the bars I saw in Spain many years go, early 70s when Franco was still in charge. I thought they called the joints Pavions but I cannot find any reference to them. Generally you learned quickly to stay away from these places. They always had several girls working and as soon as you sat down one of these kittens would show up and you were required to buy them a drink. I do not think they were prostitutes but they were there to make money for the establishment.
“B-girl” is the term of art, I believe, probably the world’s second oldest profession. (Or so I’m told; I’d never sully myself by entering such an establishment personally. 🙂 )
Of course not. I saw these places in Zaragoza and Madrid and was wondering if anyone over in Spain might know more about it.
In Turkey, by the way, they had a place called the Compound, in Izmir. I assume they also had in other cities but they were a form of debter’s prison. Not sure how they arrived at that name.
Someone must love Faux News.
“As for the kittens, well, I guess they’ll be put up for adoption:”
Family blog.
Biting tongue.
Still biting tongue.
Harder.
I knew a guy who had a ‘kitten’ like that. Bought her on Ebay.
After a while she would gradually deflate and he’d have to blow her up again.
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Well, I’m hoping to have a couple of kittens soon (sister’s friend’s cat is expecting), but if need be I could be persuaded to provide a good home for a couple of these poor unwanted strays.
Maybe Trump will snatch them up…
I’d heard of his creationist shenanigans, but not the cult bit. Bizarre! To think what those ‘kittens’ could do with the time, effort and energy they’ve put into this.
Is there anybody in the world who seriously thinks those lip injections make women more attractive?
It’s so utterly bizarre to me. They look like poorly made dolls. Very strange, but de gustibus non est disputandum
I kinda do like full lips, but these ‘kittens’ look like dolls indeed.
Sure, naturally full lips. This is like the difference between a plump tomato and a genetically engineered watermelon.
I disagree. I rather like genetically engineered watermelons.
Apparently there are. Hard for me to fathom, though.
Interesting. If he was a Saudi royal with a harem, this wouldn’t be a problem.
Does this mean we have to start liking Erdogan just a tiny bit now?
Not required. The enemy of my enemy is still my enemy.
(I think that was a Nietzschean proverb from Andromeda.)
He looks shorter than I would have thought. This is what happens when you don’t get to stage your photos folks.
[Atlas of Creation] – “There was some big money behind that! Surely the government has no beef with his creationism.”
Errm, would one assume the US Government was okay with Ken Ham because his Ark Park got a lot of taxpayers’ money?
I just think there’s a tendency, which is frequently incorrect, to regard other countries’ governments as monolithic and assume that anything done by officialdom is directed from the top. ‘The authorities’ and ‘the government’ are not identical and quite often may be opposed. This is usually quite apparent to anyone actually living in a country.
Oktar’s arrest could stem from some high-level behind-the-scenes directive from the highest level to ‘get Oktar’, or it could just be a local police inspector receiving complaints of illegal activity and doing his job.
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Oktar’s ‘Atlas of creation’ dates from 2006-7, Mr Erdogan was mayor of Istanbul from 1994-98 and Prime minister since 2003, he only became president (with basically absolute powers) in 2014.
Mr Oktar and Mr Erdogan appear to have been close in all kind of business for a long time. Mr Oktar is(was) not just a supporter of Mr Erdogan, anti-evolution and anti-jewish, but also -weirdly- fervently anti-free mason.
https://balkanist.net/the-islamic-sex-cult-supporting-turkeys-prime-minister/
It appears this cosy relationship has come to an end now.
Oktar, for whatever its worth, seems to be his own man – and that runs afoul of authoritarians everywhere.