Controversial TV evangelist Adnan Oktar arrested in Istanbul
Turkish police yesterday detained a controversial television evangelist who is known internationally for his conservative Muslim values as well as the scantily-clad female followers he refers to as kittens.
Adnan Oktar was held in Istanbul with 80 alleged associates on accusations of fraud, bribery and sexual assault.
Arrest warrants were issued for 235 people.
Oktar, also known as Harun Yahya, said that his arrest was a “conspiracy by the British deep state”, Turkish daily Hurriyet reported.
He is known for his conspiracy theories, often posting on social media about the supposed secret control of Turkey by the UK and US and his espousal of Islamic creationist views.
In 2011, Oktar began broadcasting on satellite TV channel A9 – which he also owns – with programmes that drew attention for their unusual nature.
Accompanying him in the studio for his interviews, lectures and discussions about Islam are heavily made-up, often surgically enhanced young women, known as his kittens.
Oktar is referred to by the women as master, and critics, including the Turkish pro-government press, say that he is the leader of a cult.
Under his pseudonym, the divisive figure has written several books arguing, among other things, that evolution denies the existence of God and is a Masonic conspiracy.
In the book Holocaust Lies, Oktar argued that, contrary to the historically agreed Nazi holocaust, it was a typhus plague that led to the death of millions of Jews during the Second World War, although he later denied writing the book.
In 2008, Reuters news agency called him one of the most widely distributed authors in the Muslim world.
Oktar is also known for bringing legal cases against those who criticise him. In 2007, access to the San Francisco-based blogging platform Wordpress was blocked in Turkey as a result of the alleged defamation of Oktar by bloggers.
It was previously rumoured that Oktar and President Recep Tayipp Erdogan enjoyed a lucrative and mutually beneficial relationship when the president served as mayor of Istanbul in the 1990s and later when he was prime minister.
The arrests follow criminal complaints filed by plaintiffs whose ages range from 11 to 40, according to local media.
Oktar has previously spent time in prison – for promoting a theocratic revolution – and in a mental hospital.
Other charges Oktar and his associates face include forming a criminal organisation, sexual abuse of children, blackmail, false imprisonment, political and military espionage, alienating citizens from military service and torture.
The arrests came amid a government clampdown, and days after Mr Erdogan was sworn in as head of Turkey’s new presidential system.