The Messiah and his Kittens (Pt 1) - The Mahdi wears Armani
The Story
The Times
3.9 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 8 August 2022
⏱️ 33 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In the first episode of a four-part series, The Sunday Times's award-winning Middle East Correspondent, Louise Callaghan, tries to get to grips with one of the most bizarre stories she's ever covered.
In January last year, the leader of Turkey's most powerful cult was sentenced to over 1,000 years in prison. But what happened?
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This episode was first published on 28th January, 2022.
Host: Louise Callaghan, Middle East Correspondent at The Sunday Times.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, it's Manvine here. |
| 0:04.0 | Over the course of the next four days, we're putting out the stories of our time series, |
| 0:08.5 | The Messiah and His kittens. |
| 0:10.8 | It's the story of the rise and fall of Turkey's most powerful cult leader. |
| 0:16.0 | We first published it in January this year, so if you missed it then, please do give it |
| 0:20.8 | a listen. |
| 0:22.1 | It's presented by the Sunday Times Middle East correspondent Louise Callahan. |
| 0:28.8 | Before we begin, a warning that some listeners might find what you're about to hear distressing. |
| 0:34.6 | In January last year, I was at home in Istanbul when my phone started going crazy. |
| 0:40.5 | It was lighting up with notifications from Turkish news outlets and messages from my friends, |
| 0:44.7 | all saying the same thing. |
| 0:46.4 | The trial was over. |
| 0:48.2 | Adnan Oktar was going down. |
| 0:51.5 | Adnan Oktar was going down. |
| 0:54.4 | I was transfixed. |
| 0:57.1 | The man who was being led away from an Istanbul court trip was the leader of Turkey's most |
| 1:01.2 | bizarre and most powerful cult. |
| 1:04.6 | The 65-year-old had been sentenced to over a thousand years in jail, for crimes including |
| 1:09.8 | forming and leading a criminal gang, fraud and sexual abuse. |
| 1:15.2 | For years, I'd heard rumours and allegations. |
| 1:18.2 | I knew there was something extremely weird and probably extremely bad going on, but I |
| 1:24.0 | had no idea it would end like this. |
... |
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