Turkish public television announced on Monday the death of former preacher <a href="https://time.news/turkiye-and-the-us-discussed-the-fight-against-terrorism-2024-04-25-143008/" title="Türkiye and the US discussed the fight against terrorism
– 2024-04-25 14:30:08″>Fethullah Gülen, who lived in exile in the United States, at the age of 83. Ankara accused this sworn enemy of Recep Tayyip Erdogan of trying to organize a “coup d’état” in Türkiye in July 2016.
The TRT channel announced the death of the Muslim intellectual, citing the X accounts and the website of his movement, which is banned in Türkiye. He died “in the hospital where he was taken.”
“Our professor passed away at 9:20 pm on the evening of October 20, 2024, to the hospital where he was treated for some time,” the X media account announced. “Doctors will make a statement on the hospital’s process in the next few hours.”
Fethullah Gülen lived in Pennsylvania, in the United States, since 1999. He was rarely seen in public.
From ally to sworn enemy of Erdogan
Turkey stripped him of his Turkish nationality in 2017. In exile, he escaped the clutches of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for nearly fifteen years, his one-time ally but now accused of “terrorism”. (read box).
After the “coup d’état” of July 15, 2016, the Turkish president made hundreds of arrests in unprecedented purges. More than 125,000 people were dismissed from public institutions, including 24,000 soldiers and thousands of magistrates. Private educational institutions, media and publishing houses were also closed. At the same time, Turkish secret services have carried out several operations in countries in Central Asia, Africa and the Balkans to forcibly return suspected Gülenist supporters.
The former imam declared that his movement Hizmet (“Service”, in Turkish), was not so powerful that it is opaque because it is present on every continent through, in particular, a sprawling network of private schools, nothing more than a simple network of charities and businesses.
“A taste for secrecy and influence”
Fethullah Gülen went from “an ordinary imam in the 1970s” to “a spiritual leader of a huge community that brings together millions of caring people (…), present in all sectors of the economy, in education, in the media, but also in sectors various of the administration”, notes Bayram Balci, a researcher at Ceri-Sciences Po in Paris, in a study published in 2021.
“With a flavor of secrecy and influence, even manipulation and intimidation (…), the movement of Fethullah Gülen presents strong similarities with various Catholic communities such as the Jesuits, Opus Dei or others, including its visible motivation,” which he emphasizes.
The Turkish intellectual proposed a version of Islam that was associated with nationalism and was revisited by the modern age. In particular, he expressed his faith in science, interfaith dialogue and democracy. He interacted with various religious representatives, including Pope John Paul II. He also had a theology in favor of business, the market economy and neoliberal economic policies.
>> Review the content from 7:30 pm in 2016 dedicated to Fethullah Gülen:
Türkiye: Fethullah Gülen is President Erdogan’s bête noire / 7:30 pm / 1 min. / July 17, 2016
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