PRESS CONFERENCE HELD BY ADNAN OKTAR AND THE ISRAELI DELEGATION (January 20, 2010)

ADNAN OKTAR: First of all, welcome everyone. It is an honor to have you here. Our guests are are welcomed. It’s also an honor to have them here. Oktar I think you will introduce our guests...

OKTAR BABUNA: Welcome. I’d like to introduce my guests starting from right. On the right, Mr. Japhet Tsedaka –Samaritans are a branch of Jews in Israel, he is the head of the Samaritan community. Again from Israel, Mussa Hadi-Hurrian Dimitri, Orthodox Christian leader, sitting right next to him, Rabbi Yeshayahu Hollander, from Sanhedrin the Rabbinical Court in Jerusalem, Jerusalem Court for Issues of Bnei Noah. We see Mr. Ayoob Kara right next to him. Mr. Ayoob Kara is the Deputy Minister of the Development of Negev and Galilee. He is the only non-Jewish member of the Israeli Cabinet. He is the closest non-Jewish person to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He has the objective of establishing strong and warm relations among Jews, Muslims and Christians as well as all other religions and he is showing efforts to this end. Right next to me is the leader of the Druze community, Sheikh Ameen Kablan-Abdul Amin Kabalan. Again, on my other side is Rabbi Benjamin Abrahamson from Sanhedrin. He is the advisor to Sanhedrin on issues related with Islam. Right next to him is the Bedouin Leader Atef Krinawi. And Mr. Ehraim Lahav is senior strategy consultant from the office of the Prime Minister. He is also the General Director of the Academic Association in Israel.

ADNAN OKTAR: Gentlemen, I think it would be more pleasant for you to ask questions. So, let us first receive your questions, then I will make further explanations if required and we may go on with the discussion. However you like, or else I could talk about topics in general. But I think questions would be much better. Please go on.

REPORTER: What is the main purpose for so many people from Israel to come here? These conversations have been continuing for the last two days. What are the topics of exchange, what did you talk about and what is your intention? I would especially like to underline that considering the tension between Turkey and Israel these days, how was it possible to accept this invitation?

ADNAN OKTAR: Three or five people could tense up Israel, yet there are seventy million people in Turkey. Also there are millions of people in Israel but they are not frustrated at all. This tension is only among a group of ten to fifteen people and this does not interest us. We have no tension with Israel. A television series, a novel or a play does not ill repute Israel in our eyes. In the same way, any act against the Turks in Israel such as a chair placed low or high does not offend Turkishness in any way. That is considered to be the mistake of that person only and an individual, local error. And it’s not accepted by the Israeli people either. There is no such thing that the entire Israel accepts this act. Therefore, we have no tension with Israel, this is an artificial happening. These types of occurrences will recur but will come to pass with no effect, let me say that. Other than this, if you have any other question, you may ask. I think you would like to ask further.

REPORTER: Can I please ask you of what do you think about the tension between Israel and Turkey just happened before you arrived? Why did you come especially in that moment to Turkey, so how would you describe what happened before?

ADNAN OKTAR: Excuse me, do we need the translation of my statement? These people know English, but I spoke in Turkish. They do not know what I said. If you don’t mind, let him [the interpreter] explain what I’ve just said.

AYOOB KARA: Yes. First of all, we came here. We have here delegation that represents all the religions, Islam, among Israel. Because Muslim is the person who gives himself to God. That means everyone who believes in One God is a Muslim. As a Christian, as a Druze, as a Jewish, as everyone. So when we see that there are religious fundamentalism in the world, all of us, all of us, Muslims, as Jewish, as Christian, we need to stop it. And if we want to stop it. We need people like Mr. Oktar, that cry to finish to stop everything that make the weather hot between Islam and the other religions, between Israel and Turkey. And I am thinking, in Israel most of the citizens, all of the citizens in Israel, Jewish or non-Jewish believe that Turkey is a country that we must support each other; [that] we have much interest together and [that] we must continue together. If there have been any mistake with some officer does not a stop or finish this relationship.

ADNAN OKTAR: Let me go on by answering your question on the purpose of our coming together. Two opinions struggle in the world; on one side there are believers in Allah and on the other side the unbelievers. The believers will unite in this struggle between the believers and the unbelievers. Christians, Jews and Muslims will stand shoulder to shoulder in their struggle against Darwinism and materialism. But surely this is not a fierce struggle but will be based on love, compassion and mercy as well as science and arts. This time, this intellectual struggle is won by believers in Allah. This is the century when believers in Allah prevails. Consequently all satanic plots like wars, conflicts and battles end in this century. This means the fight between Palestine and Israel will also come to an end. We will stop any attempt to drive a wedge between Turkey and Israel. Actually, we have already stopped that. For instance, this meeting has ended that issue. We will not be deceived by such a plot. There are people that want to stir up this issue on both sides. There may be a bunch of people to fall into such traps, but huge masses have never been deceived and will never be.

We love the ones who believe in Allah and they love us, too. This is how it will be until the Last Day. We are in the era of the Messiah (Moschiach), in the era of the Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh). The Messiah’s appearance is described in detail in the Torah and all the signs have come about. Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh) and Hazrat Messiah (pbuh) are the same person. This is indicated in the Qur’an, and also clearly stated in the Torah. The hadith also mention the coming of Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh). Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh) and Hazrat Messiah (pbuh) are the same person, and scholars will see this in their research. Some people may wonder if these matters are metaphysical. Yes, they are metaphysical. The world is metaphysical. People will see that metaphysics will dominate this century. Religion is dominant in the Middle East which means that religion directs people. Religion keeps people together, gives them moral strength and provides the source of their lives. For that reason we see that believers prevail in this century, as a matter of fact we have already seen it and will also see in the future. This way we demonstrate that attempts to break up Israel and Turkey are all vain plots. This is one of our objectives.

A second purpose is soldier Gilad Schalit and his status. He is also a son of ours, he is also a brother of ours and on the basis of our consciences, we are surely disturbed about his condition. Yet, we are also disturbed about the condition of our Palestinian brothers in Israel. We are constrained of their condition in prisons. However, what we say is not that the terrorists in Israel should be released so that they pursue terror in Israel. There may be an amnesty, but they should come out with angel-like morals and hug Israelis with love and be brothers in order that this war ends. Soldier Gilad should be released so that he may return to his family with joy and happiness. There is also another aspect of that lad’s circumstances that concerns me. It is an anguish for a person to live every day with fear of death. It is very difficult to endure that. A person in prison would not experience this fear, while a person under such circumstances will do. This needs to be taken into consideration as well. This kind of distress lasting for years is a very hard condition to endure, that should also be considered. But the circumstances that the young girls and also others are under in Israeli prisons is also distressing us. But of course we want them to get out of the prisons with good manners like the angels, we want them to hug Israelis warmly and there to be an environment of brotherhood.

I suppose soldier Gilad’s father Noam Shalit will come to Turkey in the following days, insha’Allah. We do not wish to give the details of his visit due to security reasons, but we are in contact with him. We do all in our power. We are trying to form public opinion. It is very important to form a public opinion. Especially the public opinion of Turkey is vital. But we shall not inform the public about his arrival date and time. This is important for us for the purposes of security. We do not want any unpleasant incident to happen. We want these issues to be solved with ease. Of course we don’t need to give all the details of the effort we put and what we are doing. But we have good, nice, peaceful, brotherly and friendly endeavors and this will continue. We love our Israeli brothers very much. These beloved friends of ours visit us from time to time. I see them as my brothers. They are my brothers in La Ilaha Illa Allah (there is no deity but Allah). Some may try to drive a wedge between us as much as they like, but we will not allow that. They try to ground this argument of theirs on a verse in the Qur’an. They misunderstand the Qur’an.

In the Qur’an Allah says, “do not take the non-Muslims as awliya,” which means “do not take them as rulers, governors, prime ministers.” And this is quite normal, this statement is a blessing for us from the Qur’an. As there cannot be a Muslim prime minister in Israel, of course there won’t be a Jewish prime minister in Turkey. Naturally, the public will not want that. Of course people will want a Muslim leader. Therefore this is what is indicated in the Qur’an. This verse does not mean that they are dangerous or harmful people. Allah wants us to be compassionate toward them, and to protect and guard them. We brought Jews to our lands from Spain. Did not our ancestors know that? We welcomed them in the best manner. The People of the Book were at ease at the time of the Messenger of Allah (saas). Christians, Jews were all living in brotherhood and friendship. We will establish the same brotherly environment.

No one can drive wedge between Israel and Turkey. We do not cease to care for Israel because of some movies, theatres or ads. Our reference source is the Qur’an and the Torah. We look at the Torah. But of course according to our faith our main reference source is the Qur’an. We act according to the Qur’an. We see the Children of Israel as what is revealed in the Qur’an. They are a line of the prophets, they are a blessed line, we will never let anyone harm even a hair on their head. They were on a kind of strained terms with Iran for a while. Ahmadinejad made a statement, saying “we will wipe Israel off the map.” Then I sent him a message, and said a Muslim can never make such a statement because it is forbidden. It is a sacred land. There are Christian, Muslim and Jew brothers there. There are religious people, children in that country. It is wrong to make such a statement. I also said, we are only intellectually opposed to atheist Zionists there. Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh) will not shed blood, he will not awaken anyone asleep, even the nose of people will not bleed, I explained. I explained that with hadiths. Then Ahmadinejad said the same word by word in an official statement. This is a very very good progress, he changed his statement 180 degrees. So we see that he is a positive person, and he is open to suggestions. I told that atomic bomb is forbidden and also told him to say this publicly. Just as you saw the news report in the daily Hurriyet as the headline. Iran made an official statement saying “atomic bomb is forbidden.” Consequently, whoever drops an atomic bomb on Israel will find us against him. No one can do such a thing, no one can dream of it. Let alone actually doing, no one can even dream of it. From now on we will never let anyone in the region or in the world to do such a thing. From now on there is no such thing. We are in the age of peace, brotherhood and love. This kind of things will never happen.

Yes, I apologize, it was a little long, but it is important.

AYOOB KARA: My family came to Israel 400 years ago from Turkey so you have agency in Israel also.

ADNAN OKTAR: Yes, our friends from the press can go on with their questions. Yes please.

REPORTER: Do you have any contact with Hamas regarding this Israeli soldier? If yes, how is the reaction of Hamas to your request?

ADNAN OKTAR: We do not have any contact with Hamas. But we will convey this issue to every group or person we think will be helpful in Islamic terms. We will explain this issue as much as we can, but of course our main target is the effectiveness of the Turkish public’s opinion. Our primary aim is this. Yes please.

REPORTER: Will the Israeli officials be in contact with other groups?

ADNAN OKTAR: No, they are here as my guests only, I am hosting them. And I love them very much, they love me very much. Yes please.

REPORTER: If you don’t mind, can we have the opinions of your guests shortly about this visit? If they also agree.

REPORTER: What is your main reason for visiting Turkey? I mean you have been having meetings since yesterday. What is the main point of this visit to Turkey especially when the relations are not so good?

AYOOB KARA: Exactly, we came in this time, Mr. Oktar invited us religious guys from Israel, from all the population between Israel; we are here from the Christian majority between Israel, the Druze, the Islam, the other religions of course the Jews. We came here to say that Turkey and Israel must continue to be together. Mistake of any official will not stop this relationship. And exactly now because it’s very hot; mistake of one or two people does not change what the relationship for all the history that we do it together. So, we came here to say that the peace and to live together and to be together and support each other is the way that we need and we hope to be in good touch with the religious people. Here between Turkish like Mr. Oktar the same steps he is thinking. He is thinking that we need people that say all the time ‘let us be together, let’s go together with the steps of peace’. There are enough places for all the citizens here in the Middle East and the world to live together. We have One God for all of us, so it is exactly the time to come here to stop this mistake that happened before 2 days or one week because nothing changed between the population between Israel and the Turkey.

ADNAN OKTAR: It is wrong even to refer to it as a tension. Ten people will come about and say that there is tension between Turkey and Israel. And then will 70 million people here say “oh, yes, there is tension”? And will the millions there [in Israel] say “oh, yes, there is tension”? There is no such thing. We love Israel, they love us, too. They believe in the One Allah, and so do we. They believe in the prophets, Heaven and Hell. They are immaculate people. They are from the line of Prophets, we feel compassion and love for them. Allah entrusted them to us, insha’Allah.

I’ve said 2 years ago that the Turkish Islamic Union will be established. Back then people thought it was a tale, but now you see that what I’ve said is coming true, the visa requirements have been lifted with many countries. All the countries, with which the visa requirement is lifted, are the candidates of the Turkish Islamic Union. After that the passport requirement will also be lifted. The visa requirement with Israel will be lifted as well. You’ll see. Passport requirements will also be lifted, so Israel will be among our neighbors we can freely visit. States will be as independent and national states, but borders will be lifted in this respect. And therefore friendship and brotherhood will mark this century. People will no longer dare to fight or to cause terror; wars have now ended in this century. Terrorism too will end rapidly, and you will see it.

The age of the system of the Mahdi (pbuh) and the Messiah (pbuh) will begin. When we talk about the system of the Mahdi (pbuh) and the Messiah (pbuh), people regard it as a dream. Yes, it is like a dream in a sense. There will be extraordinary improvements in arts, science, aesthetics and beauty. The Torah has explained it in great detail. We will see this beauty in fine detail. We will see that democracy is more excellent and freedom of ideas is more excellent. We will see that the conception of love will reach the most excellent level insha’Allah. We will see that all the bloodshed and the suffering were for nothing. Darwinism and materialism have so far caused the death of some 350 million people. They have caused the World Wars I and II. They have erased love from people’s hearts. They have caused the destruction of thousands of villages, towns and cities. But in this century this plot of satan’s is now over. As you know, we have explained Darwinism; that there are no intermediary form fossils, and that there are about 300 million living fossils. A hundred-million-year-old creature is the same as today’s; and we proved it. We proved that proteins can by no means change through evolution, and for the formation of a protein of a living cell is needed. Hence, Darwinism is no more. Although they are thrashing around, it is evident to everyone that it is artificial. Jews, Christians and Muslims have all been relieved by Darwinism’s defeat. Henceforth, the way to love, friendship and brotherhood is wide open. Noisy advertisers of artifical conflicts had better stop trying; there are no more wars from now on.

REPORTER: Sir, when you say that, your message to President Ahmedinejad, and changes his declaration by that, do you mean that you convinced him stop building nuclear arms and using against Israel? Second quesiton is what is your solution to the conflict between the Israeli and Palestinians?

ADNAN OKTAR: As I’ve said earlier, we’ll collapse the vault of heaven on anyone even imagining using atomic bomb on Israel. No-one will allow such a thing to happen. Turkey will not allow such a thing. Let Israel be at ease on this matter. Besides, it’s definitely forbidden (haram) in Islam; such mass destruction weapons are forbidden. That is because there are many Muslims, many Christians in Israel, as well as many devout Jews living by the Torah. On what grounds could an atomic bomb be dropped on these people? It is impossible for a believer to do that, therefore such a worry is completely unnecessary. I’ve spoken with Israeli officials earlier, and also with Iranian people who are actually involved in the case. There is this unnecessary anxiety; yet such a thing happening is impossible, just impossible. Let your hearts be at peace on this.

For one thing, Jews are descendants of the prophets. There is no question of destroying the descendants of the prophets with atomic bombing. This cannot happen. According to the Qur’an, according to the verses of the Qur’an, you will continue to exist until the Last Day. There are Jews until the Last Day and you, by Allah’s leave, are in our custody, under our protection. By Allah’s leave, we’ll never allow any harm being inflicted on Jews. Neither on Christians. By no means. And we’ll never allow fighting. Some ten people came up and said “we caused a crisis”. We returned the crisis back to them. A crisis of ten people. I mean, these are artificial events, artificial tensions. Falling for them means supporting the artificial tension.

REPORTER: If you don’t mind, may we hear from your other guests’ than Mr. Kara their ideas on the subject, even in a few sentences?

ADNAN OKTAR: Of course. Let him [the interpreter] explain it first, and then we’ll continue.

REPORTER: I have a question to your guests, if possible. There is fear and concern that there is antisemitism here in Turkey and that it will move to radicalism. Do you agree with this?

ADNAN OKTAR: Are you directing your question to Mr. Kara or should Mr. Hollander proceed?

RABBI YESHAYAHU HOLLANDER: I must say that this happening is so suprising that anyone who would make a prediction is sticking his neck out. It would seem from a rational analysis that there is only one direction and that is direction of conflict. If you take the materialistic point of view, where are the material interests of Israel, of Turkey, of Palestinians, Palestinian Arabs? And we’ll say this is a collision. If you read the papers, you’ll see we are in a collision path. If you read what the academics say about the interests of Turkey, you will see the interests of Turkey are not to be from here, from Israel. Of the state of Turkey, not the Turkish people. We are talking about politics and government and governments’ relationship. However, it is clear that rational analysis is not sufficient, based on economics, Marxism. Marxism is rampage you know, Marxist country or empire has fallen. But the Marxist set of mind has not changed and people think that what motivates nations and what moves the world are basically economic and power interests.

Now, today is Wednesday. All over the world, whereever Jews are, and on Saturday they will be reading about the Pharaoh and how he was moved by the Almighty. You can try to explain it rationally into collision forces with Israel. And the collision actually did occur and the Jews were saved. But we see that in his mind, he had good reason to stop fighting the Jews after he saw one after the other and there were ten plagues against the Egyptians. There were not enough reason. And a rational human being could say after three or four, “ok I’ve had enough”. He didn’t. It says that his heart was hardened by the Almighty for that everyone should see the hands of the Almighty in history. We are seeing today, I believe, we are seeing here the hand of the Almighty in history.

... What actually happened in 1948 was that a few hundred thousands, I don’t know how many hundred thousands, the statistics of the UN are usually unreliable about this. It is said 400.000 Palestinian Arabs left their homes and moved to camps in Lebanon, in Gazza and Jordan. At the same time, about 650.000 or 700.000 Jews left Arab lands to come to Israel. Most of their possessions were confiscated by the Arab governments. And they came to Israel, a country which had no resources and it became a prosperous country. And the Arab refugees were left, were confined to the camps for so many years by the Arab countries, they did not let them leave. In Lebanon, a person who was in the Lebanese camp was not allowed to leave the camps. They could not get any education. They could not develop economically. They were kept by the Arab countries as hostage for the politics. This is very sad. And this is against Judaism and I believe, I don’t know Islam, but I’m sure it is against Islam. This was an example of politics preceding, taking presedence of religion. This is great mistake especially in the Middle East.

In history, we have seen time and time again that things don’t go according to political interest. But in the Middle East where most of the population, I would say a making a rough guess 99.8% of the population are sincerely religious, that does not mean that everyone does everything their religion demands from them. People often do what is considered as sins. But all people, the great majority of people believe in God and have relationship with God. Not every day, some people more, some people less. But the society in the Middle East is definetly a religious society. Even in Turkey, even during the time until the recent government. Most of the people they didn’t pray five times a day, or maybe they didn’t pray once a day but they still knew that they are connected to the Almighty through their religion. And it is not nearly lip service. Today certainly for 20 years, 30 years that Mr. Adnan Oktar has been preaching first of all to the Turkish people to return to their religion and that happened to a large extent. I cannot measure the extent, I only see, you can see from the politics in Turkey also that people have become more conscious of their religion and turn more to God than even before. So what is happening is I believe a world revolution in which the understanding even of secular politicians that religion is something that has to be taken into consideration, will cause a revolution.

Today for instance an amazing thing happened to me. As I was preparing to come to here, I got a phone call from Israel and they sent me a statement made by the grand mufti of Syria. Just recently. The grand mufti Hassoun of Syria. And he said that –of course he did not say it in English, he probably said it in Arabic, but I don’t know Arabic, and this is what I have- he said, Prophet Muhammad (saas) did not ask me to deem Christians or Jews heretics. Prophet Muhammad (saas) did not say that the Jews and the Christians are heretics, kafir. Because that is not correct. Sheikh Ahmad Hussain said that Islam being a religion of peace, he added Prophet Muhammad (saas) did not command us to kill people. He continued; religious wars were not the result of religion but the result of politics, infiltrating systems of faith and he asked; was Moses (pbuh) a Middle Eastern or European descent, was Jesus (pbuh) a Palestinian or a Catholic, was Mohammed (saas) Shi’a or Sunni? According to the mufti the conflict between Israel and its Arab neighbours has nothing to do with an Islamic war against Judaism. He added; before you got American citizenship and I received Syrian citizenship, he told we are all brothers under the dome of God. He also added; Jews once lived in Syria peacefully and with fair treatment, and his own grandfather, the grand mufti had a Jewish partner. Jews lived in Syria for years and they still have their own Syrian society which is for me a bit of fact, cause I don’t know how many they are in Syria.

Now, I want to get back to the main theme of the way the world is going as Mr. Adnan Oktar has been saying for the last, since I know him which is only about 8 months. Since people are beginning to recognize, secular politicians, or in other words, why don’t secular politicians understand this? They can’t, it is not their fault. People who have not been brought up with certain understandings can hardly ever develope them after the age of development of understanding has passed. You all know that when you want to teach a child a language, the younger you teach it the better the person learns. It is difficult to teach elderly people new languages unless there are few people who learn languages all their lives. There was one person that learned 136 languages from reading the Bible. In each language he learned, he learned it from reading the Bible. He surely knew the Bible very well. So people who have been brought up in secular society are not capable of understanding the importance and value of religion in the lives of religious people. So what is happening in Turkey and other places is [that] the demographics are [showing] that there are more and more religious people. And this will change the world under One God. Come to all of us, we will find peace in ways which He alone knows.

ADNAN OKTAR: Masha’Allah. If our Orthodox Christian friend would like to say something, he may do so now.

FATHER HURRIAN DIMITRI: First of all, I hope to thank Mr. Oktar for inviting us here and also to thank Mr. Ayoob Kara for inviting us too to interview here. And thank you because you will send this message to all the world, to the Muslims in the world and all the people in the world. You know and everybody knows that the Christians and the Orthodox Christians believe that God is love. And we produce love between all the churches and all the people. And we came here to send a big message that we need you to develop this love and to be together with all the religions in the world. So we came from Israel here to say only a few words. When we met Mr. Oktar, we saw his spirit, warmth and love and he changed all the opinions in the world, especially in Turkey to believe that a human will be a human... And we believe that we can make change like Obama said when he got elected: We will change and we will not believe in violence and we will not believe in radicalism or the terrorist people who believe that they will change the world with this method. We will stop them and we will say that we only believe in God, in One God, a country perfectly believes in One God.

I’ll take a few words from the Bible and say; when Jesus (pbuh) asks someone “Do you love your brother?” He says “if you don’t love your brother but you say you love God though you don’t see God, so why don’t you love your neighboor and your brother when you see them”. So I’ll tell you, this is a short message; if the people don’t love one another, we cannot live in this world in peace. So because love will build a bridge between all cultures, between all the countries, between all the people and this message is for you to send to the world. And Mr. Oktar, really you are like Muhammad (saas) in Islam who’s given a big religion, and you are here a big man to change all the opinion about the violence and about the Muslims in the world. And I suppose that you will make a long way to achieve your aim and we believe in this and thank you very much.

REPORTER: You talked about these problems between Turkey and Israel being political, that caused politicians in Turkey say they are merely representing the public sentiment about the disproportionate force that Israel used against the Palestinians at the ongoing siege on Gazza. How can you explain to the Turkish public this situation and this is to the Israeli Minister Mr. Kara and to Adnan Oktar; I came to the press conference slightly late but could you confirm that Gilad Shalit’s father has contacted you personally and asked you to be a negotiator? Do you feel that you’ve... How are you going to put this into practice? Do you have any influence for example in Palestine with Hamas? Thank you very much.

ADNAN OKTAR: I thank you very much too. This is not something related only to Hamas; there are many religious communities in Turkey and our nation as a whole is already a Muslim community. Consequently, the conviction of Turkey, the conviction of Turkish people will be very influential in the Arab world, in Hamas as well as other places. The way we communicate our views, our thoughts is not one-dimensional. We primarily want terror, anarchy and wars to come to a halt. We want bloodshed to come to an end in any case. We do not accept neither state terror nor personal terror. Consequently nowhere do we want bloodshed. We also want all weapons to be removed from the face of the world. Because the Torah and the hadiths mention the very same subject. When Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh) comes all weapons will be removed. The very same notion is stated in the Torah; it is stated that spears, arrows, all will be melted and turned into farmer’s catapult when Messiah (pbuh) comes. That is to say, Torah mentiones the use of technology and removal of weapons. We are now in this time, in this age right now. Consequently making war and terror is not something for a wise person. So does bloodshed. It is cruelty, atrocity. In this century we will remove this from the face of the world insha’Allah. Consequently we will also remove artificial environments. There is no reason why Israel and Palestine should not be brothers. Furthermore, they are both the descendants of the Prophet Abraham (pbuh); one of them is from the sons of Ishmael (pbuh), Arabs are the descendants of the sons of Ishmael, the other side, Jews are the sons of Israel, they are the descendants of Jacob (pbuh). Consequently the war is entirely artificial and evil. It will be very influential to mold public opinion against them.

REPORTER: Do you confirm that Gilad Shalit’s father has contacted you personally?

ADNAN OKTAR: Yes, we have contact with Gilad Shalit’s father on the phone. We are in touch, he is a polite, nice person. From the way he speaks it is seen that he is a respectful person. He wants to come insha’Allah in the coming days. But we will keep its day and hour for security reasons. We surely do not want those parents to suffer in that way. We, meanwhile, surely do not want Gilad Shalit to live there in fear of death. I saw him recently on the television and felt a deep pity and compassion for him. Yet, similarly we want Allah to rescue our sisters, mothers and brothers from the Israeli prisons, from those harsh conditions insha’Allah. We also want Allah to rescue Gilad Shalit insha’Allah. But of course, as I said before, we want those coming out of prisons with the good morals of angels, with a beautiful understanding of love, good morality. You will see this happen in the coming 10-20 years. Besides, as glad tidings to our Christian and Muslim brothers, Prophet Jesus Messiah (pbuh) will come. The coming of the Prophet Jesus (pbuh) will be in 10-20 years. This is a great glad tiding.

AYOOB KARA: First of all I want to support and invite Mr. Ahmad Badreddin Hassoun from Syria. And what he said today about the Jews and Christians in the world, in Israel and I will invite him to visit Israel. I think this is the same way, the same the steps that Mr . Oktar also says in every corner, that it is important for people to understand that we in the Middle East could be together, we could support each other. We could do peace together... What could we do? What do we have to do again more than the steps we take? So we are sure that when we find religious people like Mr. Oktar, like Mr. Hassoun from Syria, there are other people who support the way that all the religions could live together. I think from the side of Israel there is no problem.

REPORTER: Are you hopeful that the elections could pave the way forward then? Are you hopeful of the elections that will take place in a couple of months, let’say June maybe?

AYOOB KARA: We don’t do this. This is the business of the Palestinians, we are not a party in this case. But we hope that there will be a leadership which will be a partner to us, which will come back and sit with us and together we will find a solution. To go to peace is for the interest of Israel and for the interest of all the area. Previously I was trying to open also the border of Syria, I don’t know if you have heard about that. I’ve opened the border in Conetra. I did it and I sent 600 people to Syria. I am trying. I told my friend Oktar to help me in Syria and to continue this peace process. I think that it is important and it is for our interest. I hope that everyone understand that we need peace in this area more than the other side?

REPORTER: ... (Asking about the situation in Gazza.)

ADNAN OKTAR: ... But when we consider this subject, it is evident that it is not normal. That is, no matter who says what, it is not normal. There is bloodshed. If there is bloodshed, no one can bring an explanation to that, in no way. No one can show any reasonable aspect of it. No matter who sheds the blood, whether Palestinians launch rockets or Israelis bomb, this, in no way becomes reasonable. There is no explanation for that. The only solution is, please notice that I underline it, is the Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh). Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh), Hazrat Messiah (pbuh) will handle this. Otherwise this war, this issue will not come to an end. That is, discussing the matter will never yield any results. Every party will have the right in his own way. One party would say they are being bombed, rocketed and thus defend himself. From this viewpoint, that party may consider himsef to be right. The other party would say his members are held captive and under pressure and thus on behalf of Allah they defend themselves. He may have a rationale in his own way and launch rockets to the other party. These are all wrong. There is something abnormal here. This bloodshed will come to an end. Notice that I underline this; there is no explanation other than this according to the hadith, the Qur’an and Torah. This is an issue that will be resolved by Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh) and Hazrat Messiah (pbuh).

Discussing the matter here will yield no results. Only voices will be raised, tension will occur and no results will be achieved. We are responsible of abating the environment, that is we will avoid tension. We will turn this struggle into love, compassion, mercy and friendship. These conversations will escalate the tension and give harm. If they prove to be beneficial, believe me that I would also encourage them. But it does not. And I make it clear what the solution is: Other than Mahdism there is no solution whatsoever. These people want this, that is, they want peace, brotherhood and love. Of course there is pain in their hearts while Palestinian mothers, sisters pass away there, while they are being martyrized, while Israelis suffer from the consequences of suicide bombing. Let’s assume that bombs are being exploded, I am talking about the incidents in the past. These are so painful as well, but I do believe that these incidents will come to an end. That is we can not reach anywhere by such discussions. Believe me, we will only do harm.

We will accept them to be the incidents of the past, we will cover them with ashes with a forgiving, compassionate and merciful approach and pass to a brand new life, to a brand new concept of love. There is no way other than that. They try to set Sunnis against Shias but are not satisfied with it and want to set Israel against Muslim countries. There are many Christian friends trying to do this and they consider this as a happy ending. That is, they see it in this way according to their beliefs. There is also those who want to set Christians against Muslims. Consequently let’s not fan the flames. There are many people who desire it. We have the power to cover it, to stop it. Being subjected to Mahdism and Messianism, listening to our Prophet’s (saas) words, listening to the Torah’s peaceful explanations is the only solution. Apart from that believe me you will only be sorry, nothing else comes out.

ADNAN OKTAR: Yes, any other questions? Please.

REPORTER: I have a question for Mr. Kara: You have been talking about the soldier Shalit, but you didn’t mention it in the purpose of your visit. If you have a message from Shalit’s family to Mr. Oktar, can you tell us about the contents of that message?

AYOOB KARA: Yes, a few days after Mr. Oktar invited me, I was speaking on the radio, in the media about the invitation, Mr. Shalit called me and said that he needed to come to this meeting with me to visit Mr. Oktar. Someting happened within the family at the last minute and he had to stay in Israel but he sent a message through me to Mr. Oktar that he wanted him to do everything he could from the religious side, from the human rights side, everything he needs to do to bring back his son to them. And I think in a few days maybe, if he finds a way to come to Turkey, it’s also important for him to meet Mr. Oktar, he needs that. I had only two days to come here and it was a problem for them. I’m sure he will find a day in next week or after that to come to visit Mr. Oktar. Because he knows that the religious leader of Islam maybe can make more than politicians, maybe this is the way to influence Hamas, to influence the fundamentalist organizations. And I also think that Mr. Oktar understands what is necessary to bring back Mr. Shalit. Because we were speaking about him last night and I’m hopeful because he promised us to do everything to bring our son back home as quick as he can.

REPORTER: May I ask a question?

REPORTER: I am asking to Mr. Kara. Actually the reason we have gathered here is universal and deserves congratulation so much that in this respect the fact that we have attended is good. However, many of our foreign press colleagues asks about the Israeli soldier. I want to ask another question. Many of our Palestenian brothers, just as Mr. Oktar has told, are in prisons at the moment. In Turkey first of all there is the democratic opening and there are advances conducted by the government regarding some of the problems people are experiencing in Turkey. You are also a member of the government. Is there any opening, a development regarding our Palestenian brothers, sisters or people of your own line who are in the prisons there? Are you making any effort about them? That is to say, we are feeling the suffering that the people there and your Israeli soldier are going through, but is there any effort made regarding this [other] side? Or is it only one side that is being cared for? What do say?

ADNAN OKTAR:  Now let’s halt a minute. This subject is somewhat open to discussion. But let’s ask him by summarizing, anyhow I will make a statement after his accordingly. Okay, please proceed.

AYOOB KARA: Yes. there are negotiations in the government on this case, all the time. We have some guys from Germany all the time who go to Hamas and come back to Israel all the time, we’re talking with these people. We need to come to a conclusion and also our Prime Minister needs to close this case and we have to wait for the answer from the side of Hamas. We gave our answer. They have a problem between some of the people they need to be sent free. We hope we’ll get an answer in one week- two weeks time from the side of these guys, to make a decision for the future what will go on.

REPORTER: (First asking in Hebrew) Is Mr. Kara going to meet with and speak to official men from this government except Mr. Oktar?

ADNAN OKTAR: They will not as far as I know, but you can ask him.

AYOOB KARA: The politicians are coming here and trying to do all the actions about Shalit on the governmental basis. From my position, I think I’m going to a new way, that religious people especially in Islam have influence more than politicians. On the way coming to meet Mr. Oktar, I said to myself that maybe we found the answer for all the fundamentalism that is becoming more and more strange I think in the Middle East. And maybe the religious guys, there are people that lead religion everywhere in Turkey and in other countries, maybe this is the way to stop this religious fundamentalism. Because of that I came here, I’m sure that we can succeed because the other side they go in it. I think government does it, but in this side nobody does. I think this is important for me, because I promised myself that I want to open the border between Syria and Israel, from the human rights side, from the religious side. And I will succeed in a few months. I’ve sent many people to many places, religious places from Israel to Syria. I hope that again people coming also to visit us from Syria.

PRESSMAN: If I understood correctly, you gave the glad news that in 10-20 years the Prophet Jesus (pbuh) will come.

ADNAN OKTAR: Yes, that is correct.

PRESSMAN: Is he alive at this moment, is he among us?

ADNAN OKTAR: In my opinion, he might have come. That is because he will have a long work. He will hide himself, the Prophet Jesus (as) is not out in the open, that is to say his identity will be revealed at the last minute. He will appear at the last minute. He will influence the government officials, superordinate politicians in particular, that’s how Said Nursi explains. He will have a small group of disciples. When he comes, even he does not know himself, he says. He adds that his close disciples will know him by the radiant of faith. The Messiah (pbuh) should have come by now, by around 2002-2003. We believe that the Mahdi (pbuh) might have come also, we told this before. As you know Ahmadinejad made a statement about this. I told him to declare that Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh) has come. Both Ahmadinejad and Khamenei stated that the Mahdi (pbuh) has come. Hurriyet gave this news in headlines, that the Mahdi (pbuh) is coming. This is a definite command, that is definite belief in Sunni and Shia. It is likewise in Judaism. I told it before that the Messiah (pbuh) that the Jews are expecting and the Mahdi (pbuh) that the Muslims are expecting are the same; however, the Messiah Jesus (pbuh) that our Christian brothers and we are expecting is a different matter. As I told before there is 10-20 years for his appearance.

REPORTER: This one will be detached, but Mehmet Ali Ağca has just come out of prison and is making similar declarations. What do you think about this? That is to say, is the end of the world coming, explanations about the Mahdi?

ADNAN OKTAR: As Said Nursi explains the end of the world, the Doomsday will come around 2120. In the next century Islam will prevail the world, you will see that. First Christians will be more religious, Jews will be more religious and Muslims will be more religious, and then at last the Prophet Jesus (pbuh) will come. As per our religion, the world will become Islam, all will be Muslims but Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh) will rule the Jews with the original Torah and the Christians with the original Gospel. He will turn towards the Muslims with the morality of Islam, of Qur’an. He will defend love, peace and brotherhood. It is the time for the Mahdi (pbuh). None of Said Nursi’s words have turned out to be wrong up till now. It is out of the question for the related hadith to come wrong. All of the signs of the coming of the Mahdi (pbuh) has appeared. I have examined and assessed this issue on rational basis. I don’t believe in fallacy, irrational words. But apart from this, many people claim to be the Mahdi (pbuh) and the Messiah (pbuh). These are not important, no need to ponder upon these. This is not important since the Mahdi (pbuh) never claims that he is the Mahdi (pbuh). That is to say, he will be in charge by force, by asking.

PRESSMAN: So you don’t take seriously the declarations of Ağca, right?

ADNAN OKTAR: It is only Ağca’s words, that is to say he does not fit into the descriptions of the Messiah (pbuh). The account regarding the Messiah (pbuh) is very clear. There are three verses in the Qur’an, when he comes no one can deny it. In other words, there will not be a discussion whether he is the Messiah (pbuh) or not. I mean the power of the Messiah (pbuh) is overwhelming. No one, no person will be able to resist his words, they will not have that power. When he comes, he will perform prayer with the Mahdi (pbuh). Of course this is as per our belief, in Jerusalem and in Hagia Sophia they will perform prayer together. The fact that he will push the Mahdi (pbuh) from his back and make him Imam is clearly mentioned in hadith books called Kutub as-Sitta. This is clear clause in Bukhari, Muslim, Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah, Sunan Nasai, Sunan Abu Dawud. In both Sunni and Shia beliefs this is an undeniable subject.

It is very clear that the Messiah (pbuh) will come. But when he comes, there will be no discussion. He is long haired, he has gentle, beautiful face, he has gray eyes, let me describe him so that you’ll know him when you see. He has a gentle face, he is athletic, he has broad shoulders but he has a slim waist. He will be of middle height, he has sharp looks, I mean it is all very clear, he will work miracles. You are young, you will all see, no one will be able to resist. In other words no one will be able to resist neither his personality, nor his character, or his beauty and radiance or the miracles he shows. Yet the Mahdi (pbuh) will end the main problem, that is Israel will be very comfortable in the time of the Mahdi (pbuh). Armenia, Orthodoxes, Protestants, Catholics will all be in full comfort. There will be real peace. The Israel-Palestine conflict will end. There will be a great era of civilization and peace, a great era of love will begin. The developments regarding this is continuing with Turkey in center.

If you are following from the Internet and press, there are intense connections going on with the Arab countries and Turkic countries. These are the work that makes up the foundation for the Turkish Islamic Union. I told it two years ago, you now see that the developments are continuing just like I said. First the visas have been abolished, if you have noticed, the abolishment of visas are continuing. Every country of which the visa has been abolished is a member of the Turkish Islamic Union. I mean there is a plan accordingly and it has been continuing. After these the passports will be out of use. It will be the same in Israel, the visa and passports will be abolished. You will see that this line of the Prophets, the Jews will live in peace and beauty insha’Allah. Let them not be anxious, not be uneasy. There will neither be an atom bomb, nor a war or a conflict or anything. That is to say the era of peace and brotherhood has begun. You will see that what I say is true in 10-20 years. If I say something, it definitely depends on an evidence, on source,. I don’t say anything irrational, I don’t say anything unreasonable and right. Is there anybody that has a question?

REPORTER: I speak on behalf of Seher tv (Iran). I say welcome to our guests, they belong to different religions. If 124 thousand of the Prophets come together, there would be no conflict. Our brothers belonging to different religions have come, for a reason. I thank Mr. Adnan Oktar very much. If we start talking politically, there will be many conflicts between us.

REPORTER: If there is no politics, then there is no conflict between people. Because as you have said Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh) is known as the huccet (witness) of the earth

REPORTER: All religions believe in this. All brothers and sisters believe in this and everyone waits for the justice and justice waits for Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh), that is our belief. Only under the leadership of Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh), brotherhood can happen. The wars can come to an end. Iran can only use the nuclear energy for humanity and we could have made nuclear energy only for peace. Iran has never thought of nuclear weapons for war. The people who have used nuclear weapons for war are certain. It has been used in Japan, innocent people have died. But no Islamic country has used weapons of mass destruction. We condemn this whatever belief and mindset it comes from. We want the borders to be abolished, the passports to be abolished under one flag, under the name of humanity since we all have a father and he is Adam (pbuh), we believe in him and we believe Havva (pbuh). We remember the 124 thousand Prophets with respect. Our other brothers, members of different religions, they have come here representing different Prophets. We welcome them, we exist for peace, let them not be afraid of Islam. Islam is present only for peace. Thank you.

OKTAR BABUNA: Could you repeat from which television you came?

REPORTER: Thank you very much.

ADNAN OKTAR: Please, anyone else?... If you have no other questions, if you like we can close this. Okay, thank you very much to all of you, thank you.