Ankara accused the cleric that stands behind the attempt to coup in 2016
US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, a longtime bitter rival of Recep Erdogan, has died aged 83. It was he who was blamed for the deadly failed coup attempt against the Turkish president in 2016. Gulen passed away after a long illness.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan confirmed his death, vowing to continue the fight against the cleric’s movement, which is designated a terrorist organization in Turkey.
“The leader of this dark organization is dead. Our resolve in the fight against terrorism continues. The news of his death will not make us complacent,” said Fidan.
Born in 1941, Gülen rose through the ranks of Turkey’s religious bureaucracy to become an influential imam, building his base of followers over decades. However, he went into self-imposed exile in 1999 when he moved from Turkey to the US and settled in the small, leafy town of Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania. His followers, many of whom were lower-middle-class Muslims disenfranchised by Ankara, formed the Hizmet movement. It has established schools, free training centers, hospitals and humanitarian agencies, which are said to be aimed at addressing some of the social problems of Turkish society. In Turkey, the Gulenists also owned TV stations, newspapers, gold mines and at least one bank.
Gulen had been a close ally of the Turkish president and his party, but growing tensions in their relationship escalated in December 2013 when
came to light corruption investigations,
directed against ministers and officials close to Erdogan. Hizmet prosecutors and police officers were believed to be behind the investigations and in 2014 an arrest warrant was issued for Gülen, and 2 years later his movement was designated as a terrorist group and named FETO.
Then came the attempted coup against the president in 2016, which killed 290 people and injured more than 1,400. After a wave of violence that saw tanks roaming the city’s roads, the coup attempt was put down.
Erdogan was quick to point the finger at Gulen for what happened, and a crackdown ensued. Thousands of people suspected of ties to the cleric,
were arrested or fired from their jobs
Turkey has called on the US to extradite the cleric, and Washington’s refusal to do so has led to a sharp deterioration in relations between the two countries.
Gulen has repeatedly rejected Erdogan’s accusations. “As someone who has suffered through numerous military coups over the past five decades, it is particularly insulting to be accused of any connection to such an experience. I categorically deny such accusations”, he commented then.
In an interview with Reuters in 2017 from his gated compound in Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains, Gulen said he had no plans to flee the United States to avoid extradition. Even then he looked frail, walking slowly and holding his doctor close at hand.