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Adnan Oktar

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Adnan Oktar nom de plume Harun Yahya (a.k.a Adnan Hoca) (born Ankara, 1956) is a figure in Turkish creationism, and a fervent advocate of creationism in the creation vs. evolution debate. He is considered the leading Muslim advocate of creationism; unlike the majority of Christian creationists he subscribes to Old Earth creationism. He is an anti-zionist and anti-mason which he sees as very interrelated movements, but he rejects allegations of anti-Semitism . He and his organization are also regarded as a cult and is very controversial in Turkey . He also founded the BAV, an organisation that is accused of being a criminal organization.

Biography

Antisemitism

In 1996 the BAV distributed a book entitled the Soykırım Yalanı ("Holocaust Lie") (originally published in 1995). The publication of Soykırım Yalanı sparked much public debate. This book claims that “what is presented as Holocaust is the death of some Jews due to the typhus plague during the war and the famine towards the end of the war caused by the defeat of the Germans”.

In March 1996, a leading Turkish painter and intellectual, Bedri Baykam, published a strongly worded critique in the Ankara daily newspaper Siyah-Beyaz (Black and White). A legal suit for slander was brought to him. During the trial in September, Baykam exposed the real author of the book as Adnan Oktar. To prevent more damage, the case was withdrawn in March 1997.

Several years later, it was noted that Adnan Oktar has undergone a change and become more tolerant toward Jews and others; he now works toward promoting inter-religious dialogue.”

Nowadays he rejects allegations of anti-Semitism, claiming pagan and Darwinist roots for anti-Semitism and publicly calls upon all Muslims to "a tolerant and friendly attitude toward other religions". However, Oktar still criticizes the Old Testament, calling some verses “false exhortations”.

Campaign against Evolution

In early 1998, Adnan Oktar and the BAV launched a campaign against Darwinism. Thousands of free copies of Adnan Oktar's book, The Evolution Deceit, and the booklets based on this book were distributed within Turkey.

BAV also spearheaded an effort to attack Turkish academics who taught evolutionary theory. A number of academics were harassed, threatened and slandered in fliers that labeled them "communists, separatists and Maoists" for teaching evolution. In 1999, six of the professors won a civil court case against BAV for defamation and were awarded $6,000 each.

The court decided that "a severe and unjust attack was perpetrated on the plaintiffs' personal rights, by listing the names of the scientists defending the theory of evolution and describing them as communists and separatists on the flyers distributed by the foundation." Professor Ümit Sayın summed up the effect of BAV's campaign when, in 2005, he said: In 1998, I was able to motivate six members of the Turkish Academy of Sciences to speak out against the creationist movement. Today, it's impossible to motivate anyone. They're afraid they'll be attacked by the radical Islamists and the BAV.

Writings

External links

Sites based on the works of Harun Yahya:

Critical articles

Other Articles

References

  1. http://www.salon.com/books/int/2007/01/02/numbers/index3.html
  2. "Yahya accepts that the world is billions of years old...", Martin Enserink, In Europe's Mailbag: A Glossy Attack on Evolution, Science 315{5814):925, 16 February 2007.
  3. Cornelia Dean (July 17, 2007). "Islamic Creationist and a Book Sent Round the World". New York Times. Retrieved July 17, 2007. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  4. ^ Harun Yahya's islamdenouncesantisemitism.com site
  5. http://english.sabah.com.tr/2E6E66B0FB3D4D60AE374D08A8473D9D.html
  6. http://www.economist.com/world/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9036706
  7. http://www.milliyet.com.tr/2007/05/18/son/sontur40.asp
  8. "BAV has been taken to court repeatedly over the last decade. .." http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav052407.shtml
  9. http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/organizations/harunyahya.html
  10. http://www.axt.org.uk/antisem/archive/archive1/turkey/turkey.htm
  11. http://web.archive.org/web/19990429183644/www.webcom.com/vural/Eng/books/HOLOCAUST.HTML
  12. http://www.axt.org.uk/antisem/archive/archive2/turkey/turkey.htm#Parties
  13. http://www.tau.ac.il/Anti-Semitism/asw2004/turkey.htm
  14. http://www.harunyahya.com/articles/32terrorism_antisemitism_soc06.php
  15. http://www.islamictimes.co.uk/content/view/205/50/
  16. Article by Tony Ortega: http://www.pitch.com/issues/2005-05-05/news/feature_1.html
  17. ^ Article in Cumhuriyet Newspaper June 25, 1999 http://web.archive.org/web/20010803145236/www.geocities.com/evrimkurami/mahkeme2.html
  18. http://www.ncseweb.org/resources/rncse_content/vol19/8300_islamic_scientific_creationism_12_30_1899.asp
  19. http://www.pitch.com/issues/2005-05-05/news/feature_1.html
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