THE Fethullah Gülenas well as being a Turkish priest, former imam, author, political figure and founder of the Hizmet movement, was an ally of Recep Tayyip Erdogan until 2013. He was also his main enemy with many labeling him as the second largest. the powerful man of Turkey.
For several years his name was not known outside the walls of the neighboring country until he began to star in the international press after the repeated accusations sent by Recep Tayyip Erdogan that he was the “brain” behind a plan organized in cases of corruption, but as the mastermind of the coup for overthrowing.
On July 16, 2016, the President of Turkey criticized from Istanbul airport, with his statements, how the Gülenists are behind the failed coup, calling them a “state within a state”.
Gülen’s entourage rejected the allegations as “grossly irresponsible” noting in a related statement that “they have consistently denied military interference in domestic politics, a principle that is one of Hizmet’s core values”.
From allies “eternal” enemies
Gulen’s movement has long been an ally of Erdogan since he entered the prime ministerial race.
According to the Financial Times, the supporters of the Turkish President were mostly businessmen rather than the Gulenists, and according to the publication they were the ones who worked and “thinned” the state machine, which gave the boom needed by the ruling party AKP and Recep. Tayyip Erdoğan.
According to the Financial Times they held key positions in organizations such as the police, judicial authorities, prosecutors’ offices.
The corruption investigations led to the rupture
The rift between the two former allies began in late 2013, when corruption investigations came to light targeting ministers and officials close to Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
At the beginning of 2014, the president of Turkey, believing that Gülen people or other members of the Hizmet movement – as it is called in Turkish – are hiding behind the investigations, proceeded to purge the police, the prosecutor’s office and the judges, to arrest those who did it. consider his followers.
An arrest warrant was subsequently issued for Gülen, and his movement was designated a terrorist group two years later.
Uncontrolled persecution of Gulenists and the designation “terrorist”.
Persecution of Fethullah Gülen’s followers spiraled out of control after the coup, with more than a million people accused of being terrorists.
At least 77,000 were arrested, 150,000 government employees, including teachers, judges and soldiers, were suspended under a state of emergency, accused of being “Gülenists”, and the media, schools, associations and companies believed to be linked were closed also by Fethullah Gülen. seized.
At the time, the Turkish government named the founder of the Hizmet movement as the most wanted terrorist with Recep Tayyip Erdogan calling the traitors of the Gulen network a “cancer”, while instructing the Turkish people to “root them out”. ” wherever they were.
Turkish media accusations against Greece
At the same time, thousands of his followers left the country. Pro-government press such as Anadolu called Greece a “refuge country for FETO terrorists after the coup” and the Turkish President repeated accusations against Greece, the US and some European countries for harboring terrorists.
Fethullah Gülen had already been living in the United States since 1999, when he left Turkey under the threat of arrest and impeachment at a time when the state was persecuting the Islamists.
His staunch enemy Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned the coup attempt, saying in a statement how “as someone who has suffered through multiple military coups in the past five years, it is very insulting to be accused of having anything to do with such an attempt that.”
Although the President of Turkey requested his extradition several times, the US never accepted the request. In 2017, speaking to Reuters from his gated compound in Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains, he said he had no plans to flee the US to avoid extradition.
The war of succession and the billions
According to Turkish media, the biggest critic of Recep Tayyip Erdogan died in a hospital in Pennsylvania at the age of 83.
The story of his death was posted by the Herkul Nağme social media account through which the imam’s sermons are published with the announcement saying how “our teacher walked on the horizon of his soul at 9.20 pm on October 20, 2024, in the hospital where he was he was in the hospital on for a while.”
According to his followers, Gulen’s movement – known as Hizmet, which means “service” in Turkish – seeks to spread moderate Islam by promoting Western-style education, free markets and interfaith communication. The influence of the movement spread beyond the borders of Turkey to Central Asia, the Balkans, Africa and the West.
With Recep Tayyip Erdoğan minus one enemy, the Gulenist core has begun the instruments of its succession, the control of the institutions that control the organization around the world, and the assets of the organization estimated at billions of dollars.
The turnover from educational institutions in America alone is estimated at 200-250 million dollars per year. In addition, the organization has many properties in many countries around the world.