January 16, 2021

"Adnan Oktar... a Muslim televangelist and cult leader... proselytised about religion while scantily clad women bopped robotically beside him."

"He and his followers had connections and influence stretching across the world.... The core female members were called 'kittens' and the men 'lions,' and many were recruited from powerful and wealthy families. The local tabloids loved it: an Islamic 'sex cult' run by Istanbul’s Hugh Hefner with a few Quranic verses thrown in. But, after a trial that has gripped Turkey, Oktar’s organisation... been shown to have committed serious crimes and destroyed the lives of many members. In an 480-page indictment prosecutors laid out charges including sexual abuse, fraud and organised crime that reached deep into Turkey’s elite.... Their message of religious understanding and liberal values resonated with [one woman who escaped the group after 10 years]. In it she found another option to the secularism common in her social class. Soon, the group edged out her old friends and her family. 'They were like best friends around me,' she said. 'I mean, they were taking a lot of care of me. They make you feel like you’re indebted to them, so you want to do something in return. Slowly your reality starts getting distorted. Very slowly, not fast. It’s not like "OK, you joined us, now you can’t go out any more."'"

47 comments:

tcrosse said...

He'll be an old man when he gets out.

Laslo Spatula said...

Faster, Pussycat. Kill, Kill.

I am Laslo.

Laslo Spatula said...

"...prosecutors laid out charges including sexual abuse, fraud and organised crime that reached deep into Turkey’s elite."

Does ANY country have a competent 'elite' anymore?

I am Laslo.

Churchy LaFemme: said...

The thing is, none of this may be true. Turkey's courts are no more trustworthy than ours. He might have just annoyed the wrong people.

Wince said...

You know what stinks?

When a web site asks you for "permission" to install their cookies, and only then deigns to let you know you have to subscribe to read the article.

Lurker21 said...

Oktar looks like a Bond villain.

His wardrobe and impeccable grooming will probably suffer in prison, but at least he will have time for more baccarat games where he's going.

I wonder if he's really more dangerous than some more orthodox Muslim leaders, though.

Clyde said...

Iran or Saudi Arabia would have nipped that in the bud.

Narr said...

What Churchy said.

Cults within cults within cults. And some people just can't stand guys who bang a lot of women.

Narr
I bet his four wives are really pissed

Howard said...

This is solid evidence that turkey wants to join the modern world p

Iman said...

Istanbul or Constantinople...

Owen said...

There is a lot of mental illness in the world. A competent sociopath must look at the rest of us as easy pickings.

Spiros said...

Something you conservatives know and the libs don't: religiosity is so much stronger among the middle class and the wealthy. Church is a great place to meet girls and to network! So much for the bullsh*t that religion acts as an opiate for the masses because it offers hope for reward in the afterlife.

Ken B said...

Blogger Howard said...
This is solid evidence that turkey wants to join the modern world

————-

Thread winner.

n.n said...

Kittens or pussies? Everyone has a religion, if only something selective, opportunistic, relativistic ("ethical"). He, they are socially progressive... nay, liberal, but, apparently, not politically congruent. #NoJudgment #NoLabels #InStorkTheyTrust #PrinciplesMatter

FullMoon said...

DAMN! Sounds just like the leftist commenters here and elsewhere.



"Yet the lure of the group is still strong: Facebook and Twitter are awash with messages of support from kittens and lions who pledge their loyalty to Oktar and denounce the “traitors” who put him behind bars.

Last week, after the sentencing, I spoke to one of Oktar’s former acolytes, who escaped the group after more than 10 years. She has rebuilt her life and hopes to show other group members that they can have a future outside the cult.

“I understand why people still have a hard time leaving,” said Elif, who asked that her real name not be used. “If you have been there for years, and your total reality is extremely distorted, you have been gaslighted for 20 years, 30 years. For a lot of people it’s difficult to come back to real life.”

Sally327 said...

He should have moved to the UK, Rotherham or some place like that, where the authorities would be afraid of a racism charge and wouldn't do anything about the abuses. Because we have to be respectful of cultural differences. And tolerant of religious practices. Unless it's white people and/or Christianity.

FullMoon said...

The story likens the cult leader to Hugh Hefner. The feds attempted to frame Hefner on drug charges. They harassed a female employee in an attempt to get her to lie against Hefner. So much so that she committed suicide.

FullMoon said...

"Arnstein’s trial lasted for eight weeks, and in November of 1974, she was sentenced to 15 years in prison — five years longer than that of the men involved, and they had masterminded the operation. But there may have been a second reason beyond straightforward sexism that she was given a harsher sentence. The FBI wanted to use her as a mole to take down Hefner. The feds had been trying to lock him up since Playboy’s inception. As Talese explained, “the investigators seemed eager to present the Arnstein conspiracy case in an atmosphere of sex and drugs, degeneracy and death.”

Arnstein found herself in an impossible place, choosing between keeping her freedom and defending the man she had essentially dedicated her life to. She refused to cooperate with police, or even speak in her own defense for fear that she would inadvertently say something that might harm Hefner."
...................................
https://timeline.com/bobbie-arnstein-playboy-suicide-9bbeac0bc70

FullMoon said...

Notice how the disgusting prosecutor in not named.

"After her conviction, she was released pending an appeal. During that time, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois summoned her to his office, informed her that someone had a “contract” for her murder, and said that she should be careful. He was trying to scare her into his protection so he could use her for his purposes."

Sebastian said...

"reached deep into Turkey’s elite"

But not deep enough. Shoulda talked to Epstein, way back.

Question: why so few female cult leaders with subordinate male devotees?

Lack of imagination? Sex drive? The patriarchy?

Rabel said...

Churchy LaFemme: said...

"The thing is, none of this may be true. Turkey's courts are no more trustworthy than ours. He might have just annoyed the wrong people."

Yeah.

"The charges also included aiding the network led by U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Turkey accuses of masterminding a failed coup attempt in 2016."

narciso said...

oh I didn't see that twist.

daskol said...

Like the US, Turkey is getting more boring.

Bob Boyd said...

The Sun did a better job of covering the Kittens.
They're all pretty buxom.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/13719134/adnan-oktar-creationist-sex-cult-rapist-leader-kittens/

Roughcoat said...

Church is a great place to meet girls and to network!

Catholics have long known this to be the case. Ever hear of the "Ass Mass" in Chicago? The primary venue for this Saturday evening Chicago Catholic tradition -- and believe me, it IS a tradition, longstanding and firmly established -- is St. Vincent's on the Near North Side in Lincoln Park. St. Michael's in nearby Old Town, and St. Clement's, also in Lincoln Park, also lay claim to the Ass Mass tradition, but in my experience it was St. Vincent's that really put the ass in the mass. On Chicago's Irish South Side, the saying went (maybe still does) that Irish girls who turned 25 without finding a husband moved up to Old Town and regularly attended St. Vincent's Saturday evening mass (counts for Sunday) to find a guy. After mass the "party" moved to the always very lively bar scene in Old Town/Lincoln Park. Ah, what fun that was. What fun, back in the day, to be Irish Catholic in Chicago. Those days are gone, alas.

daskol said...

He looks a little like the My Pillow guy

Unknown said...

Ann, decades ago, you would have been a 'kitten'.

FullMoon said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
n.n said...

Church is a great place to meet girls and to network!

Common religion/principles/character and a community audit.

Unknown said...

Roughcoat- In this world, we have physical bodies. Yin/Yang. The Yin wants to be plugged into the Yang. The Yang wants to be plugged into the Yin.

The Yin/Yang creates new life. On and on it goes. On and on it goes.

n.n said...

Churchy LaFemme: said...

"The thing is, none of this may be true. Turkey's courts are no more trustworthy than ours. He might have just annoyed the wrong people."

Yeah.

"The charges also included aiding the network led by U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Turkey accuses of masterminding a failed coup attempt in 2016."


Social justice?

Roughcoat said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
n.n said...

The Yin wants to be plugged into the Yang. The Yang wants to be plugged into the Yin.

The Yin/Yang creates new life.


The moral and natural order: equal and complementary, respectively.

gspencer said...

If Muslims are involved, expect nothing good to come out of it.

DarigoldVanilla said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
RMc said...

Turkish sex cult saga ends in a 1,000-year jail sentence

Ahh, his lawyers can cut that in half!

Lucid-Ideas said...

@Laslo

"Does ANY country have a competent 'elite' anymore?"

Chasing children and trafficking kids takes a lot of compute cycles. It's reasonable to assume their day jobs would suffer.

J. Farmer said...

Cults are the only means cult leaders have been able to discover for getting sex from women.

rhhardin said...

It looks like standard women's mind-changing to me.

gpm said...

>>Istanbul or Constantinople.

It used to be Constantinople
Now it's not Constnantinople
It's *ISTANBUL*

--gpm

PM said...

Chairman Meow.

sorry.

Paul said...

"Slowly your reality starts getting distorted. Very slowly, not fast. It’s not like "OK, you joined us, now you can’t go out any more."

Damn man... sounds like the Democrats.

Readering said...

Operating that long and no photos with DJT?

Readering said...

I accept "and WJC" as a friendly amendment.

Ian Nemo said...

Byzantium. That is no country for old men.

Lurker21 said...

"Bopped"?

That could mean a number of things. Some of which may not be appropriate for family audiences.

Unknown said...

J Farmer-"Cults are the only means cult leaders have been able to discover for getting sex from women".

Leaders of any type have no problem getting sex with women. Women want to please. You said 'sex from women'. For homosexuals, this world is skewed. It's harder to understand it. I bet you've been propositioned by women your whole life, but you don't want that. It is what it is.