Publico, a Portuguese-language daily published in Portugal, devoted three whole pages to the rise of Creationist belief in Europe under the banner headline “Who Is Afraid of Darwin?” The report in the paper, which has a circulation of 75,000, included the following statements: “150 years after the launching of the theory of evolution, the number of those preferring the idea of Creation is rising, and Europe and the Muslim world are where this idea is expanding.
... Many of the 6 billion people alive today attach no precedence to the account proposed by Charles Darwin.
150 years have gone by since the theory of evolution through natural selection was first announced by the Linnean Society of London... But the truth of Darwin’s theory of evolution ... continues to be debated by a substantial section of the public. ... Different figures of the resistance to the theory of evolution are speaking openly in various parts of Europe. In countries such as Poland, Holland, Switzerland, Germany, Serbia and Russia, groups comprised of members of the public and, under certain circumstances, ministers have been stating since 2000 that they want to see creationist ideas taught as an alternative to the theory of evolution.”
The report then goes on to refer to the activities of the Science Research Foundation and its honorary president, Adnan Oktar, under the caption “The Leading Turkish Force:”
“The majority of British students entering medical faculties and young people from Muslim backgrounds show that there has been a powerful increase in opposition to evolution among Islamic communities in recent years. These all show that the development in question has emerged as a result of the religious movement that has come back to life in Turkey particularly due to the intense activities of Adnan Oktar (known by the pen-name of Harun Yahya) and the Science Research Foundation, which espouses creationist ideas.”
As we have seen, the works of Adnan Oktar have been instrumental in the scientific awakening and enlightenment in Europe and the Muslim world in particular. The subsequent part of the report particularly noted the impact of the Atlas of Creation, and described how the book had had a “frightening” effect:
“Harun Yahya has a web site loaded with information (www.harunyahya.com). In addition, his books and DVDs are distributed to Turkish schools. ... Last year [Harun Yahya] further expanded his activities in Europe and the USA, sent his luxurious book The Atlas of Creation to many schools and scientists: with the quality of its photographs and its impact the book is frightening... It contains photographs of fossils of animals and plants that are still living today, and all look identical to their fossilized states (the book can be downloaded free of charge from the web site). Based on these illustrations, Harun Yahya maintains that species never evolved, and that they have remained the same ever since they were first created.” 
