Mr. Tarkan Yavaş, the Chairman of the Board of Technics and Science Research Foundation, responds to the libelous story on Haaretz newspaper regarding Mr. Adnan Oktar and his friends

OUR RESPONSE TO THE

LIBELOUS STORY ON HAARETZ NEWSPAPER

REGARDING MR. ADNAN OKTAR AND HIS FRIENDS

On March 29, 2018, a news story by Asaf Ronel titled “Orgies, Blackmail and anti-Semitism: Inside the Islamic Cult Whose Leader Is Embraced by Israeli Figures” was featured on the English and Hebrew website of Haaretz Newspaper, as well as in their weekend supplement.

The aforementioned news article regarding Mr. Adnan Oktar, the honorary president of our charitable foundation, and other members of our foundation, is entirely based on baseless allegations in an attempt at black propaganda.

The libelous story is based mainly on slanders of the person that was called 'Fulya' in the article, whose actual name is Ceylan Özgül. These completely absurd claims and lies related by Ceylan Özgül were reported without any prior investigation and with utter dismissal of our opinions on the issue, displaying an example of unethical, one-sided journalism.

Since the article constitutes a gross violation of the principles of honesty, impartiality and factuality, we wish to exercise our right to respond to these baseless claims. Following are our responses regarding the black propaganda lies that have been clearly prepared with the intention of defaming Mr. Adnan Oktar and his friends, as well as a political agenda to attack right-wing Israeli politicians and religious people:

1) THE LIE THAT CEYLAN ÖZGÜL WAS HELD AGAINST HER WILL

In the news article published on Haaretz Newspaper, it was wrongly claimed that Ceylan Özgül was held against her will in Mr. Adnan Oktar's circle for years and it was again wrongly claimed that she had to escape. Moreover, the article offered completely wrong details about Ceylan Özgül. Ceylan Özgül's story about how she left our group is pure fiction:

First of all, our foundation community is entirely comprised of a group of friends who loves each other dearly. It is a place where intellectual activities are carried out on a volunteer basis. As of today, more than 7,000 people have joined and left our community freely till now.  Therefore, Ceylan Özgül's claims that she was kept in a house against her will and that she snuck out wearing nothing but her pajamas and slippers are completely fictitious; just like all our other friends, Ceylan Özgül, too, had willingly and voluntarily remained a part of our group for some 15 years, and later parted her relation with us completely of her own accord and with great ease.

FIRST: During the 40 years of Mr. Adnan Oktar's intellectual struggle, he has had many friends who met him and left afterwards. There are thousands of politicians, academics, businessmen, TV personalities, journalists and writers who have been brought up within the vicinity of Mr. Adnan Oktar and then attained significant positions both in Turkey and abroad. None of these persons were held captive against their will and they were not prevented from leaving. The gates of the TSRF community are always open to all to come or go as they wish.

As a matter of fact, Ceylan Özgül took part in live broadcasts in Turkey and in the world media such as the BBC, RT, Show TV, CNN Türk and Beyaz TV during her stay with Mr. Adnan Oktar and friends. If she had been subjected to any pressure as alleged, she would have made calls saying "save me" before the eyes of millions and could easily have asked for help from the authorities. On the contrary, all through these programs she attended, Ceylan Özgül praised Mr. Adnan Oktar and his intellectual efforts, books, articles, television broadcasts in detail, and supported him and his friends with all her strength.[1]

Even more, at the time when she claimed being abducted by her father, she sought refuge in the Gendarmerie and gave her testimony with her free will that "she was happy being together with Mr. Adnan Oktar and his friends and that she was kidnapped by her father at gunpoint". Then she gave detailed accounts regarding her willingness to stay among our friend circle to the Turkish media.

The news article published in Haaretz is ridden with contradictions. It is astounding that a journalist was easily deceived by such simple lies. The article claims that Ceylan Özgül has been a journalistic commentator on Turkey and the Middle East on television and in print media for over ten years; the article also suggests that Ceylan Özgül has been doing all this while being held captive at a house. What Asaf Ronel failed to see is that how a person who has been held captive in a house manages to keep working as a journalist for 10 years. How can such a person, who has every means available to communicate with the whole world, be held captive?

SECOND: Furthermore, this is not the first time Ceylan Özgül claimed to have been held captive. In 2007, Ceylan Özgül said on Turkish television channels how she had been kidnapped barefoot by her father and several armed accomplices with nothing but her ID, taken to an unknown location and held captive there. Regarding this incident, she reported her own father to the gendarme, and thus the incident became a legal matter.[2]

While Ceylan Özgül was talking about how her own father kidnapped her, she also stated that she had never faced any pressure from Mr. Adnan Oktar and his friends and added that if there had been such an issue, she would have filed a complaint to the gendarme and the prosecutor's office, thus expressing how she would exercise free will.[3]

Ceylan Özgül's allegations about her own father do not end with the claim that he had kidnapped her. Ceylan Özgül went even further and claimed in 2007 that she had suffered sexual abuse by her father for years, which she recounted on-air in great detail on major national television channels in Turkey.[4] This is not how someone in her right mind would behave.

THIRD: Many live broadcasts that featured Ceylan Özgül as a guest on TV stations also stand as the proof of the free and unrestricted life she led. Ceylan Özgül appeared before millions of Turkish viewers on these programs. Her cheerful, tranquil and healthy appearance immediately caught the attention of anyone watching her.[5] Unlike the allegations, Ceylan Özgül repeatedly expressed on those programs she participated how much she loved, trusted and respected Mr. Adnan Oktar and that it was 'the best place to be for a woman to be' on internationally watched VICE News.[6]

FOURTH: The footage obtained from the security cameras of the building complex dated February 14, 2017, the date Ceylan Özgül left our community, utterly refutes her lies that "she was held against her will and that she had to escape." The security camera footage showing Ceylan Özgül leaving her friend's house on February 14, 2017, proves Ceylan Özgül's narrative to be untrue.

As can be seen from the camera footages provided in the appendix[7], Ceylan Özgül did not leave the house wearing pajamas and slippers, but her casual outfit. On the footage, she does not appear to be making any escape attempts; on the contrary, she is acting extremely calm and relaxed. She did not hastily run through a door into her father's car, as she claims, but she casually left through the site's garage door in her friend's car. All these events that transpired were also witnessed by the neighbors, the two caretakers of the house and the site's security guard. This is also confirmed by the security camera footages obtained from all the houses located within the site.[8]

Three separate official expert reports have been obtained that verify the authenticity of the site security camera footages showing Ceylan Özgül peacefully leaving her friend Mine Kalca's house on February 14, 2017 without any indication of escape and driving away from the compound in her friend's car.[9]

The footage also confirms that Pınar Akkaş and Mine Kalca, Ceylan Özgül's two friends, gave her a ride to her desired destination, where they met with her father. Ceylan Özgül's father treated her friends quite politely, telling them that "he loved and respected them and that they could meet again anytime they wished." This meeting between Mine Kalca and Pınar Akkaş with Ceylan Özgül's father in Kısıklı, Üsküdar, was also captured by Mobese cameras (Municipality surveillance cameras) in three different locations.

In addition, her father's statement is very clear in that Ceylan Özgül left our community on February 14, 2017 to meet with him, after which she started staying with him. Furthermore, he explicitly states that no escape incident transpired. All of this information can also be confirmed with Ceylan Özgül's father.

In addition, later that evening, Ceylan Özgül sent text messages to Mine Kalca, and repeatedly expressed her regret for leaving and her wish to come back.[10]

FIFTH: After the  footage obtained from the site security cameras was presented to the public, exposing the fake escape story she had made up in a blatant mockery of the media, this time she fabricated a mise-en-scene "escape" video.[11] Although the date of the video clearly read '2023', many members of the press still mistakenly believed that it was Ceylan Özgül's escape video. Yet no one came out and asked the question of how Ceylan Özgül had come in to possession of security footage showing her escape from a house where she had allegedly been held captive, or pointed out that the date 2023 clearly gives away the fact that the footage was bogus.

On these videos, which were shot at one of her friends' workplace as a sham, a man is seen crawling behind Ceylan Özgül faking an escape, which is yet another attempt at mocking the members of the press.[12]

SIXTH: Ceylan Özgül had been a part of our group of friends for some 15 years. During her stay with us, she led an extremely free, comfortable and luxurious life. Ceylan Özgül's social media accounts are full of her photographs, showing her living the free, comfortable and luxurious life, also in crowded city centers and streets.

2) THE ALLEGATION OF ANTI-SEMITISM

Contrary to what was claimed in the newscast, Mr. Adnan Oktar is one of the most prominent names in the Muslim world that puts up a strong intellectual struggle against anti-Jewish sentiment. His articles are currently published in top Israeli publications including The Jerusalem Post, The Times of Israel, Israel Hayom, Israel National News (Arutz Sheva), The Jewish Press, The Jewish Journal, Makor Rishon, Maariv, Jerusalem Online, JSS News, Ynet and Channel 9, and these pieces clearly demonstrate Mr. Adnan Oktar’s views on Israel and Jewish people.[13]

God calls Jews ‘the People of the Book’ in the Holy Qur'an and advices an alliance with them. Mr. Adnan Oktar extensively explains the subject in his book entitled ‘A Call for Unity[14], which has an associated website[15] and a documentary movie[16] bearing the same title. Anti-Semitism is tantamount to racism and is therefore directly against the principles of the Qur'an. Mr. Adnan Oktar is famous for his widespread efforts in explaining how anti-Semitism is against Qura'nic moral values with his books, articles[17] and websites.[18]

He is also the most vocal Muslim author to say that Turkey should be allies with Israel: Indeed, his staunch defense of Israel’s right to exist and the Jewish people’s rights in the face of rising anti-Semitism around the world has put him right in the crosshairs of a good many radical groups. There are countless websites based on the works of Mr. Adnan Oktar with the aim of contributing to Muslim-Jew friendship by helping people understand Judaism correctly.[19]

Therefore, contrary to the claims made, Mr. Adnan Oktar is a friend of Israel and the Jews. For this very reason, over the years, many religious figures, academicians and politicians from Israel have come to Turkey as Mr. Adnan Oktar’s guests.[20] The representatives of Mr. Oktar have paid many visits to the Knesset, Israeli universities, and think-tanks as ambassadors of goodwill. Mr. Adnan Oktar acted as a mediator in the Mavi Marmara crisis and worked to mitigate the resulting tension between the two countries in the aftermath of the incident.[21]

3) THE ALLEGATION OF HOLOCAUST DENIAL

In the aforementioned newscast, Mr. Adnan Oktar was wrongly accused of being a ‘Holocaust denier’. This allegation is also completely baseless. The truth is Mr. Adnan Oktar has numerous scientific works putting forth the atrocity practiced on the Jews. He wrote a book on the subject entitled Holocaust Violence[22] where he provided detailed historical accounts of the genocide the Jews were subjected to under the rule of Hitler and the Nazis. His website [to be found at http://www.holocaustviolence.com also in Farsi and Arabic][23], his documentaries entitled ‘The Shame of the 20^th Century: The Holocaust Violence’[24] and The Jewish Holocaust, An Islamic Perspective[25] and numerous articles on the topic[26] clearly refute these allegations. Mr. Adnan Oktar is the most prominent Muslim author that tells the Muslim and Arab communities the truth about the Nazi Holocaust of the Jews.[27] This baseless allegation of Asaf Ronel, regarding Mr. Adnan Oktar clearly stems from the fact that an individual named Nuri Özbudak published a book that reflected his own ideas in 1995, but used Mr. Adnan Oktar’s name without his consent. Indeed, Mr. Adnan Oktar later filed a complaint about this book, called ‘The Holocaust Deceit’ that was published under his pen name without his knowledge and consent. Mr. Oktar officially revoked the powers of Nuri Özbudak from editing his books, translating them into foreign languages, making contract with foreign publishers, and using the pen name ‘Harun Yahya’ independently. The notary approved documents that show the revocation of Nuri Ozbudak’s powers can be presented to you if you wish so. Mr. Adnan Oktar has also explained numerous times on the international media that he had not written the book in question.[28]

Indeed, the German Der Spiegel published Mr. Adnan Oktar's statements explaining how the book entitled The Holocaust Deceit had not been written by him[29] and that the book he wrote, which is entitled The Holocaust Violence, provided extensive details about Hitler’s atrocities towards the Jews.[30]

4) THE ALLEGATION OF ‘THE ISLAMIC CULT’

Asaf Ronel, the author of the article in Haaretz, used the phrase ‘cult’ to describe Mr. Adnan Oktar and his group of friends. The Technical Scientific Research Foundation is not a cult, but a completely legal, civil society organization that is engaged in cultural, social and scientific efforts. Contrary to what Asaf Ronel claims, the Technical Scientific Research Foundation has no relationship whatsoever to any cults. Since there is no cult or a ‘tariqa’, Mr. Adnan Oktar is not a ‘sheikh’.

5) THE ALLEGATION OF THE ‘EXPLOITATION OF WOMEN’

Mr. Adnan Oktar was slandered in this report by falsely claiming that he was convicted of the ‘exploitation of women’. This declaration is also completely inaccurate, because Mr. Adnan Oktar does not have any conviction for such a matter, just like he doesn't have conviction for any other crimes. This slander regarding Mr. Adnan Oktar was made by a former police chief, who was banned from police duty after he was sentenced to 16.5 years for being a member of a criminal organization and against whom the prosecutor now seeks 128 years of imprisonment on charges of torture. This person received numerous disciplinary actions during his service. No court, or prosecutor until now paid any attention to these fictional tales of the aforementioned former police chief.[31]

6) THE ALLEGATION REGARDING THE MUSIC, DANCE AND CLOTHING STYLE ON A9 TV

The report displayed a judgmental tone towards the ladies who appear as guests on Adnan Oktar’s show and their choice of clothing style. Mr. Adnan Oktar embraces and reaches out to a wide range of audiences and invites everyone to peace and brotherhood, regardless of them being a right or left, Shia or Sunni, conservative or modern, Christian or Jew. Music, dance and modern clothes are inseparable parts of life in civilized societies, including Turkey and Israel; everyone is free to choose what they wish to wear and it can never be considered a criterion of morality. Furthermore, there is nothing in the Qur'an that bans chatting with ladies wearing revealing clothes or indeed, dancing with them. Some people with bigoted mindset, (and based on certain fake hadiths) claim that dancing, music and modern clothes are banned in Islam. The simple truth is that there is no Qur'anic basis for their allegations.

7) FALSE ALLEGATIONS OF FETÖ CONNECTIONS

The black propaganda techniques of Goebbels were put to use in the report of Haaretz that involved arbitrary publication of fabricated allegations to mislead the public regardless of their being logical or not. One of these is the false allegation of a "FETÖ connection". It was conjectured that the judges who had ruled in favor of Mr. Adnan Oktar and his friends were sentenced to prison due to their supposed connections with FETÖ, and with this presumption, Haaretz ventured at depicting Mr. Adnan Oktar to be supported by the FETÖ. However, the facts are in direct opposition to what Haaretz fancies. It was the police officers, public prosecutors and judges that were members of FETÖ who slanderously defamed Mr. Adnan Oktar - and us - in 1999 and 2006, carried out torture at security headquarters, conspired through false court cases and carried out unfair prosecutions for years, and attempted to open numerous investigations based on groundless accusations. The public prosecutors Fikret Seçen and Selçuk Sayıldı, judge Ali Alçık, polis chiefs Mutlu Ekizoğlu, Yakub Saygılı, Nazmi Ardıç, Adil Serdar Saçan, Ahmet Davulcu and Mustafa Kılıçaslan are only some of these persons. These mentioned people were either put under arrest consequent to FETÖ court hearings, fled outside the country or were discharged from their offices.

In order to understand that Mr. Adnan Oktar has no relations whatsoever with the FETÖ, examining his broadcasts and statements made on the night of the 15th July coup attempt is adequate. Right from the moment the coup attempt began, Mr. Oktar remained on his live broadcast for more than 12 hours until the moment the attempted putsch failed, and throughout his live program he made calls to the Turkish people to resist the coup plotters and to take sides and give support to democratically elected President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

8) OTHER ASPERSIONS

The smear of Haaretz is not limited to the aforementioned: the newspaper also cast aspersions on the TSRF community telling lies through groundless accusations that it was supposedly a cult, blackmailing people, brainwashing the members of the foundation and exploiting them, both sexually and economically. Those who would like to learn the facts of such ill-founded scenarios of the past may refer to the references below to see the documents revealing this disparagement.[32] [33]

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, the reports of the Haaretz newspaper are baseless and without foundation. All the allegations and words written in the news story are lies, part of a black propaganda campaign. Mr. Adnan Oktar, a true friend of Israel and the Jewish people, was viciously smeared through denigration and unsubstantiated lies of certain anti-Semites who are, in fact, opposed to the Israeli nation.

We respectfully submit this to the attention of the public.

TECHNICS & SCIENCE

RESEARCH FOUNDATION

 TARKAN YAVAŞ