In Turkey, Fertile Ground for Creationism - 08.11.2009 USA/The Washington Post

On 8 November, 2009, The Washington Post, published in Washington DC and enjoying a global readership as a well-established political daily, carried a report titled “In Turkey, fertile ground for creationism.” The Washington Post, one of America’s three leading dailies with its circulation of around 1 million, carried extracts from an interview with Mr. Adnan Oktar, once again noting the effect of the works of Harun Yahya in the rejection of the theory of evolution:

... creationism ... [has] blossomed within Muslim Turkey... Turks have aggressively made the case that Charles Darwin's theory is scientifically wrong and is the underlying source of most of the world's conflicts because it excludes God from human affairs.

"DARWIN IS THE WORST FASCIST THERE HAS EVER BEEN, AND THE WORST RACIST HISTORY HAS EVER WITNESSED," WRITES HARUN YAHYA, THE MOST ASSERTIVE AND BEST-KNOWN CRITIC OF EVOLUTION IN TURKEY, AND LONG A FAVORITE OF MORE CONSERVATIVE AMERICAN CREATIONISTS.

... The Islamic anti-evolution campaign is taking place in Turkey, and not Egypt or Saudi Arabia...

... In a year in which conferences worldwide are celebrating the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth and his contribution to science, THE BATTLE AGAINST DARWINIAN THINKING IN TURKEY HAS BECOME SOMETHING OF A ROUT, EVEN AMONG ASPIRING SCIENCE TEACHERS.

... "Why I'm so interested in seeing creationism succeed in Turkey is that evolution is an evil concept that has done such damage to society," said [John] Morris, a Christian ...

The most visible Turkish proponent of creationism is... Adnan Oktar, who writes and appears daily on his own two-hour television show under the alias Harun Yahya. He and a revolving group of about 30 writers and young scientists have produced more than 200 widely distributed books and videos attacking evolution as equivalent to atheism, communism and worse.

In 2006, Oktar CREATED AN INTERNATIONAL STIR... Published on almost 800 pages of glossy stock, the "Atlas of Creation" sets out to show that creatures today are essentially the same as those that lived, and became fossilized, eons ago...

Speaking in his home and television studio overlooking the Bosporus, Oktar asserted responsibility for "defeating" Darwinism in Turkey... HE HAS CREATED A FAR-REACHING ANTI-EVOLUTION EMPIRE, he said, while American creationists and advocates of intelligent design still struggle to be heard.

The 53-year-old Oktar, dressed entirely in white, said he is not a scientist but an author "following the path of Allah." ...

Adnan Oktar, who as Harun Yahya is Turkey's best-known and most assertive
critic of evolution, says he is "following the path of Allah."

Meet Harun Yahya : The leading creationist in the Muslim world - 21.10.2009 USA/Slate Magazine

Slate Magazine, with more than 10 millions visitors monthly, which is the internet magazine of Washington Post Company featured an interview by Adnan Oktar on its 21 October 2009 issue. In the article, which conveyed the impressions of Steve Paulson from Istanbul, was headlined: MEET HARUN YAHYA: THE LEADING CREATIONIST IN THE MUSLIM WORLD. While the article mentioned of Mr. Harun Yahya as the promInent creatIonIst In the Muslım world, the major work of the author was introduced as “visually stunning 13-pound, 800-page Atlas of Creation.” Some forthcoming lines have been as emphasized below:

... He runs a sophisticated media operation, with perhaps several hundred members, that distributes books, articles, videos, and Web sites around the Muslim world... Oktar's own agenda isn't confined to evolution. He's callIng for a "TurkIsh-IslamIc UnIon," a Turkish super-state that would stretch from Kazakhstan to Indonesia and western Africa—a revamped Ottoman Empire for today's Muslims...

When I asked how so many evolutionary biologists could be wrong, he replied, "We need to talk about the Masons' role because Masons manage the world through a scIentIfIc dIctatorshIp." When I suggested that scientists would be surprised to hear this, he said that's because the Masons' "essential characteristic is that they act secretly and they are invisible."

He said he'd faced many assassination attempts... Why has he been targeted? "Because I'm fighting against Darwinism, communism and other terrorist organizations." So Darwinists are terrorists? Their work is "a Satanic plot" that nurtures terrorism around the world, "like the development of mosquitoes in mud or in ponds. So many fascist and communist leaders have stated very clearly that they have been affected by the teachings and ideals of Darwinism." (It's true, at least, that Oktar has both powerful enemies and powerful friends.)

... With the publication of Atlas of Creation, Oktar claimed that "Darwinism had come to an impasse for the first time in history." He then pulled out a loose-leaf notebook filled with clippings from major European newspapers and magazines and proceeded to quote from them: Liberation had referred to "the book that created a great panIc", Stern had likened his book to "thunder", and La Stampa had run the headline "Farewell DarwIn". The lesson was clear, according to Oktar; most Europeans had lost theIr belIef In DarwInIsm... Yahya has already grabbed the spotlight, not just in Turkey but in Muslim communities around the world.