:::True islam:::

Adnan Oktar (born Ankara, February 2, 1956)--also known by his pen name, Harun Yahya--is a prominent advocate of Islamic creationism in the creation-evolution debate[1] and, more particularly, supports Old Earth creationism[2][3]. He is against Zionism and Freemasonry and sees them as very interrelated movements, though he denounces anti-Semitism[4] and terrorism[5], which he says are products of Darwinism[6]. Oktar had defended his views by litigation; he is responsible for the blocking of numerous, high-profile Web sites in Turkey.

Oktar runs two organizations: The Milli Değerleri Koruma Vakfı (Foundation to Protect National Values), which focuses on "moral issues", and the Science Research Foundation (Bilim Araştırma Vakfı, or BAV), which promotes creationism[7]. Oktar founded the Science Research Foundation "to [establish]...peace, tranquility and love"[8], though some media describe the BAV as "a secretive Islamic sect"[9] and a "cult-like organization, that jealously guards the secrets of its considerable wealth"[10]. In 2008, Oktar was sentenced by a Turkish court to three years in prison for "creating an illegal organization for personal gain"."[11]




Biography

Born in Ankara in 1956, Adnan Oktar lived there through his high school years. Oktar started his activities in 1979, while he was trying to finish his Interior Design-education at Mimar Sinan University of Fine Arts.[12] Three years later, he decided to go on with the philosophy department in Istanbul.[13]

In the early 1980s, he gathered young students around him to share his views of Islam. According to his former mentor, Edip Yüksel, Oktar was attempting to "[mix] mysticism with scientific rhetoric".[14] These students belonged to socially-active and prosperous families of Istanbul.[15] From 1982 to 1984, a group of 20 to 30 was formed.

In 1986, Adnan Oktar published the book, Judaism and Freemasonry. The book suggests that the principal mission of Jews and Freemasons in Turkey was to erode the spiritual, religious, and moral values of the Turkish people and, thus, make them like animals, as stated in what Oktar refers to as the "Distorted Torah."[15][16] Oktar asserts that "the materialist standpoint, evolution theory, anti-religious and immoral lifestyles were indoctrinated to the society as a whole" by Jews and Freemasons.[15]

Following the publication of Judaism and Freemasonry, Adnan Oktar was arrested and imprisoned.[14] According to his official biography he was released after 19 months.[17] In a 2007 interview on Al Jazeera, he blamed Freemasons saying it was a "message" for him not to write about them anymore.[18] According to the New Humanist, Oktar was arrested, charged with promoting a theocratic revolution for which he served 19 months, though he was never formally charged.[19]

In 1990, he founded the Scientific Research Foundation (SRF, or, in Turkish, Bilim Araştırma Vakfı, or BAV), through which he still effectively functions. Members of the SRF are sometimes referred to as Adnan Hocacılar ("Adherents of Adnan the Hodja") by the public[20]. Then in 1995, he founded Millî Değerleri Koruma Vakfı (Foundation for Protection of National Values), through which he networks with other traditional Islamist and nationalist organizations and individuals. Adnan built his organizations and by the mid-1990s his "Followers were especially active in the swanky summer resorts along the shore of the Sea of Marmara.[19]