Rift emerges in Harun Yahya's group as ‘kitten’ flees mansion

ISTANBUL

A woman known from the TV shows of controversial TV personality Adnan Oktar, who is better known abroad as “Harun Yahya,” has said she has fled the mansion where they lived together with his retinue.

Writing on her Instagram account, Ceylan Özgül said she was “isolated” throughout the time she spent in Oktar’s compound.

“Is a person free if they have not been to a grocery store in 20 years? If they have not bought medicine from the pharmacy by themselves? If they do not even know what a Turkish Lira looks like because the banknotes changed years ago?” she wrote.

Özgül added that she had not been permitted to decide on her own weight or hairstyle for 20 years.

However, one of Oktar’s other aides, Tülay Kumaşçı, denied Özgül’s account, saying she had left the mansion of her own free will.  

“Ceylan Özgül lived a luxurious life for 15 years. She had the clothes of prominent brands, hundreds of jackets, pants and shoes, and specials feasts in mansions. In the video she posted recently she is in an average house and average clothes. Could this be resentment for losing that luxurious life?” said Kumaşçı.

She also accused Özgül of being a “spy for Britain.” 

Oktar is a well-known and controversial figure in Turkey, surrounding himself with surgically enhanced women - who he refers to as his “kittens” - while discussing religious and social issues on his TV program.

He has been described as the “most notorious cult leader in Turkey” and has written numerous conspiracy theory-filled books on creationism and freemasonry.

The news of Özgül fleeing Oktar’s compound comes after Turkey’s top media watchdog, the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK), imposed a fine on Oktar’s TV station A9 on Feb. 6 amid complaints of immorality.

Oktar also recently got involved in an angry public spat with Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) head Ali Erbaş, who accused him of “losing his mental balance.”