some media organizations describe the BAV as "a secretive Islamic sect" and "cult-like organization, that jealously guards the secrets of its considerable wealth". Based his own experiences and conversations with ex-members of Oktar's group, Edip Yüksel says Oktar's group "was a complete cult" with "all the criteria of a cult as you would define it today, ... isolation, entire control of the lives of the cult members". Members of the BAV are sometimes referred to as Adnan Hocacılar ("Adherents of Adnan the Hodja") by the public. Later career In 1994, the Islamist Welfare Party (Refah Partisi), the predecessor of the Virtue Party, won control of the municipalities of Istanbul and Ankara. The new mayors (in Istanbul this was Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, now Turkey's president and head of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), sought broader support. The journalist and editor Fatih Altaylı wrote in the New Humanist that Oktar made business agreements with municipalities under the control of the Welfare Party. Oktar denied and sued Fatih Altaylı several times with various results. In 1995, Oktar founded Foundation for Protection of National Values (FPNV or in Turkish Millî Değerleri Koruma Vakfı), through which he networks with other conservative Turkish nationalist organizations and individuals on shared issues. In 1997, after another military intervention, the "bloodless coup" of 1997, the government of Erbakan stepped down and the Welfare Party disbanded. According to Altaylı, the current AKP government avoids political connections with Oktar and his organization. According to Luca Steinmann, writing in the HuffPost, there are no major differences between the version of Islam that Oktar preaches and what Erdoğan promotes since Erdoğan's conservative change for Turkey correlates with Oktar's cultural point of view. In 1998 the BAV, launched its campaign against Darwinism, with Oktar's book The Evolution Deceit, distributing tens of thousands of free copies in Turkey. In September 1999 Adnan Oktar was arrested and charged with using threats for personal benefit and creating an organization with the intent to commit a crime (see "Legal issues" below). Oktar was convicted and sentenced to three years in prison, but the verdict was appealed and in May 2010 it was overturned. During these years he engaged in numerous libel suits with various results (See "Legal Issues" below). In some cases he was successful in blocking high-profile websites in Turkey for slander (see "Blocking Internet Sites" below), including that of Richard Dawkins, as well as the