ANKARA, July 11 — Turkish police today detained on fraud charges a televangelist notorious for propagating conservative views while surrounded by scantily-clad women he refers to as his “kittens”.
Adnan Oktar, who also denies evolution and is regarded by critics as the leader of a cult, was detained alongside almost 80 alleged supporters on accusations of fraud, bribery and sexual assault, reports said.
Oktar is a controversial figure in Turkey who gained notoriety for his programmes on the online A9 television channel and had regularly been denounced by Turkey’s religious.
He presented programmes surrounded by scantily-clad and heavily made-up women—who appeared to have had plastic surgery—who he dubbed “kittens”.
He was taken into custody in Istanbul as part of a probe by the city’s police financial crimes unit, state-run Anadolu news agency said. A total of 235 arrest warrants were issued in a major crackdown on the group.
Oktar was caught as he was trying to run away, the Istanbul public prosecutor said in a statement, quoted by the Hurriyet daily.
In raids supported by helicopter in Istanbul and three other provinces, officers have already detained 79 people, the newspaper reported.
His female companions—the “kittens”—are believed to be among those sought by police including 106 women in Istanbul, Ankara as well as the southern cities of Mugla and Antalya.
Oktar is a creationist who rejects the Darwinian theory of evolution and has written a 770-page book “The Atlas of Creation” under the pen name, Harun Yahya.
Oktar first came to media attention in the 1990s when he was the leader of a sect caught up in multiple sex scandals. As a result, he had faced similar criminal charges of setting up a criminal organisation.
The head of Turkey’s Diyanet religious affairs agency Ali Erbas said earlier this year that Oktar had “likely lost his mental balance”, prompting a war of words with the televangelist.
In February, workers from the Turkish Diyanet and Foundation Workers’ Union (Diyanet-Sen) launched a legal complaint against Oktar over various allegations including insulting sacred values.
In the same month, Turkey’s audiovisual authority RTUK ordered a programme presented by Oktar to cease broadcasting five times and handed down a fine because it violated gender equality and belittled women. — AFP
