Turkey targets televangelist, followers
ANKARA, Turkey — Turkish police on Wednesday detained an Islamic televangelist and were seeking hundreds of people linked to him, accusing them of a variety of crimes.
Istanbul police said warrants were issued against Adnan Oktar and 234 of his followers and that financial-crime units were carrying out operations in Istanbul and four other cities to detain them.
Oktar was detained in his villa in Istanbul’s Cengelkoy district, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported. Anadolu said 79 of the suspects had been arrested as of Wednesday.
Police said accusations against Oktar and his group include forming a gang with criminal intent, sexual abuse of minors, sexual assault, kidnapping, blackmail, fraud, money laundering and exploitation of religious sentiments.
In February, Turkey’s media watchdog imposed fines on Oktar’s TV channel and suspended broadcasts of shows where the televangelist holds theological discussions surrounded by glamorous women known as “kittens.”