Replies to claims regarding Mr. Adnan Oktar on the Dutch and Belgian media, made after the distribution of his book 'The PKK's Treachery and Oppression'

The delusion that Mr. Adnan Oktar's (aka Harun Yahya’s) scientific claims are not taken seriously by scientists:

It’s very well known that Mr. Oktar provides precise and concrete evidences (such as fossils and molecular evidences) against Darwinism, a theory that thoroughly lacks any evidence. Indeed for this very reason he is the one Creationist author whose views are most respected all around the world. Readers worldwide enjoy his books which are also downloaded in high volume via the Internet.

European Darwinist publications, France being the foremost, consider Mr. Oktar’s works as a great threat against the theory of evolution and their comments about the impact of Atlas of Creation on Europe are expressed with despair. (For detailed information please see: http://darwinistpanicinfrance.com/index.php) This is no doubt the reason why Atlas of Creation was banned from the curriculum by the European Council. Aware of the profound effect of Atlas of Creation upon pupils, Darwinist centers strove to hinder the access of this precious work into schools. Consequently the situation is far more different from how it is depicted by some newspapers. The major reason of the Darwinist panic taking place in the world today is the works of Mr. Oktar which have great worldwide impact.

From the moment of the Atlas of Creation’s arrival in the Western world, reports about this giant work's extraordinary impact appeared in newspapers, magazines and television broadcasts in 60 countries. Leading publications such as The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The New York Times, Der Spiegel, Stern, The Economist, Corriere della Sera, Le Monde, Le Courrier and CBS News all carried reports about the lethal blow the Atlas of Creation dealt to Darwinism. Headlines regarding the Atlas of Creation, such as "the most dazzling attack on Darwinism," "a book that shines like thunder," "a huge offensive," "it has impacted like an earthquake," "a book that has had the impact of an atom bomb" and "how much longer can France hold out?" are all indications of the huge impact of this important book.

The baseless claims regarding Mr. Adnan Oktar's mental health:

Those ones who cannot respond to Mr. Adnan Oktar's intellectual opinion through scientific or logical arguments resort to libel and one of their slanderous claims is that Mr. Oktar's mental health is presumably distorted. However, this disinformation has been refuted with the council reports of 5 reputed hospitals in Turkey as well as 20 medical reports by psychiatry professors.

Besides, Mr. Oktar has been on live broadcast for about 10 hours a day for years and everyone is thus witness to the health and integrity of his reasoning and ideas. He has written more than 300 books and his articles have been featured in more than 500 newspapers and journals, in more than 70 countries. Currently, his articles are regularly published in 215 newspapers, journals and websites in 43 countries.  

The claim that Mr. Adnan Oktar does not write his books himself:

Mr. Adnan Oktar is the author of more than 300 books, translated into 73 languages and are read by millions around the world. His books are sold in more than 100 countries and more than 30 million copies have been sold up to date. Furthermore, more than 5,000 conferences were organized based on his books and works, and many academicians, politicians and scientists attended these conferences.

As Mr. Oktar has already made clear in a great many interviews, he is assisted in the preparation of these works by a team of some 30 people consisting of academics, scientists and educators. This team works on such matters and preliminary research, the collection of data and illustrations and performing the requisite translations for the preparation of Mr. Oktar's works, and the information gathered is subsequently all passed on to Adnan Oktar. In this way, and as a result of the author’s practical working principle, works containing Adnan Oktar’s profound words are able to come out very quickly. 

On the other hand, the veracity or otherwise of the claim that his books are not written by himself can be established with the use of a very basic logic:

One of the main characteristics of books written by committees or groups is that they generally contain differing and contradictory views and statements.  There is no unity of logic and ideas in such books. They contain different descriptive techniques and use different types of language. The illustrations and designs selected for them are incompatible with one another. The information contained and views espoused in them are generally inconsistent. One can identify the styles of different writers as soon as one reads them. It is easy to see that such books have been authored by several different people. But there is a complete unity of language and logic in all of Mr. Oktar’s 300 or so books. All his books contain the same honesty, conviction, technique, profundity, descriptive power and wisdom. The books represent a distinct whole with the illustrations employed in them in terms of their artistry, esthetic value and quality. The reason for this is, despite the presence of a team supplying the requisite technical infrastructure for the preparation of these books, they are entirely the work of Adnan Oktar's profound intelligence, sincere belief and powerful foresight. 

The groundless nature of the allegations of a "supposed criminal enterprise" made against Adnan Oktar:

Some newspapers also carried various false statements about the court ruling and guilty verdict issued against Mr. Adnan Oktar and a number of members of the BAV (SRF [Science Research Foundation]) circle, but some important facts were totally ignored:

First of all, the court case mentioned by these newspapers is a political one that was opened following the military intervention of February 28, 1997 that abolished freedoms and legality in Turkey. This trial was one of the hundreds of unfounded cases that was sort out and heard to suppress intellectuals. Therefore, it is not based on legal foundations, but political intentions.

Secondly, it is established by the Turkish jurisdiction that torture was implemented for taking false testimonies at police security. The ECHR (European Court of Human Rights) judged that the Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights was violated during the detention period in relation to the trial. (See: Case of Tarkan Yavaş v. Turkey, Halil Muftuoglu v. Turkey).

Thirdly, the guilty verdict handed down by the court was OVERTURNED by the Supreme Court of Appeals on December 28, 2009 because of the legal errors and lack of evidence.

The guilty verdict and 3-year sentence handed down in 2008 to Mr. Adnan Oktar and various members of the BAV community was actually appealed to by the prosecutor, on the grounds of totally improper practice and statements taken and signed at the Security Directorate under duress and in the absence of a lawyer, and which were therefore legally inadmissible. The prosecutor also stated there had been various errors of law and practice committed. He TWICE REQUESTED ACQUITTAL during the court proceedings on the grounds that THERE WAS NO EVIDENCE AGAINST THE DEFENDANTS AND OF THE PROCEDURAL ERRORS COMMITTED BY THE COURT. He also APPEALED AGAINST THE SENTENCE following the ruling. We have complete respect for the court, but this state of affairs showed that the ruling should again be considered by the judicial authorities. Indeed, the Supreme Court of Appeals took this up straight away and OVERTURNED the ruling, citing 5 separate legal violations. (You can find detailed information on the subject here, here and here.)

The claims regarding the financial backing necessary for the publication and distribution of Mr. Adnan Oktar's books:

One subject that is frequently brought up is the financial backing necessary to publish Mr. Adnan Oktar's books. These books are printed and sold in their millions. Revenue is of course obtained by the publishing company from those sales. Furthermore, Mr. Oktar does not accept any royalty payments over the publication or sales of his books. Therefore, his royalties are also available for the publishing company to use to print further books.

Some people are amazed by the fact that Adnan Oktar's books are sometimes sent out free of charge. But there is nothing astonishing in that at all. Many publishers and companies employ similar sales techniques. Books given out free of charge serve as advertising, and people reading them go on to order other books, and generally order them in volume.  The investment is thus returned many times over. One of the most striking examples of this was the dispatch of books free of charge to selected addresses in France. As a result of that campaign, demand for books from France increased enormously and there was a huge boom in sales of books by Harun Yahya in that country.

The claims regarding Mr. Adnan Oktar's lady friends:

Women are incredibly valuable beings that display the most beautiful manifestations of God. In Mr. Oktar's opinion, certain qualities of women such as intelligence, love, compassion, mercy, profundity, consideration, kindness, grace, nobility, sensitivity, understanding, comprehension and intuition are superior to those of men. In the presence of women, the quality of men increases too.

Mr. Oktar maintains that women should assume at least as much responsibility and authority as men do in every aspect of social life from politics, trade, business, academic life etc.

As for the reason why Mr. Oktar's lady friends are referred to as "kitties" is the fact that he loves and values both women and cats very much, and also the disposition of cats and women are very much alike. Mr. Oktar sees both as very sweet and very friendly and as blessings. That's the reason why some publications started to refer to his lady friends as "kitties" or "kittens", and the name started to be widely used.

It was claimed in the newspapers that they have undergone plastic surgery. If they had surgeries, there would be hospital records. All surgeries in Turkey are registered in hospital records. An unofficial surgery is not possible. There are no hospital records of Mr. Oktar's lady friends for plastic surgery.

Also, they have published their childhood photographs, from three to four years old. They again had shapely noses, well placed mouths, beautiful eyes, the same as in adult age.

Needless to say, plastic surgery does not extend height or the neck anyway, which were among the claims made.   

The false allegations that Mr. Adnan Oktar is anti-semitic:

Contrary to what was claimed in some Dutch and Belgian media, 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 National News (Arutz Sheva), i24NEWS, Israel Hayom, The Jewish Press, The Jewish Journal, Makor Rishon, Maariv, Vesti, Jerusalem Online, JSS News, Ynet and Channel 9, and these pieces clearly demonstrate Mr. Adnan Oktar’s views on Israel and Jewish people.[i]

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[ii], which has an associated website[iii] and a documentary movie[iv] 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[v] and websites.[vi]

He is also the most vocal Muslim author to say that "Jews have right to live in the Holy Land" and "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.[vii]

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.[viii] 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 between Turkey and Israel, and worked to mitigate the resulting tension between the two countries in the aftermath of the incident.[ix]

The allegation of Holocaust denial is also completely baseless. The fact is 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 show the revocation of Nuri Ozbudak’s powers. Mr. Adnan Oktar has also explained numerous times on the international media that he had not written the book in question.[x]

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[xi] 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][xii], his documentaries entitled ‘The Shame of the 20^th Century: The Holocaust Violence’[xiii] and 'The Jewish Holocaust, An Islamic Perspective'[xiv] and numerous articles on the topic[xv] 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.[xvi]

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[xvii] and that the book he wrote, which is entitled The Holocaust Violence, provided extensive details about Hitler’s atrocities towards the Jews.[xviii]

The claims about Mr. Adnan Oktar's view about homosexuality:

Homosexuality is unlawful according to the Qur’an. Letting homosexual couples adopt children is particularly calamitous which in return results in many kids’ being subjected to violence and even rape. The Qur'an depicts homosexuality as an obscenity, an abomination. It is also unlawful according to the Gospels and the Torah. Just as how each Muslim is responsible for calling people to the righteous way by explaining that murder, theft, prostitution are unlawful in Islam, he must also explain that homosexuality is unlawful.

In our day, certain circles attempt to promote homosexuality as a supposedly legitimate, innocent and even sympathetic act. This perversity is being injected into especially pious societies in an insidious and planned manner. This way they try to generate new generations divorced from their moral and religious values, who have been subjected to moral decline and who have lost their souls, identities, self-confidence, honor and dignity. This method would make it quite easy to control and manipulate the masses that are thus debilitated.

This perversity threatens not only Islamic communities, but also the members of all religions. It is important for everyone to be wary against this threat.

However, this does not amount to saying that homosexuals must be maltreated, subjected to violence or be oppressed. That is something Mr. Oktar would never accept. He is fundamentally against all forms of violence or bullying, no matter against whom it may be. Mr. Oktar's words against homosexuality are against this forbidden act, not the individuals.