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Fethullah Gulen, the Muslim cleric residing in the United States and accused by Turkish officials of orchestrating a failed coup in 2016, has passed away at the age of 83. According to BBC reports, he died in exile in a Pennsylvania hospital.
Gulen, who had been living in Pennsylvania since 1999, lost his Turkish citizenship in 2017. His death was confirmed by his personal website, Herkul, which is banned in Turkey, on October 20.
Once an ally of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Gulen’s relationship with the government soured after his move to exile. Erdogan’s administration branded Gulen’s Hizmet movement as a “terrorist” organization, accusing him of masterminding the coup attempt, claims that Gulen has consistently denied.
The Hizmet movement, which translates to “service” in Turkish, is a global network of Islamic schools with significant influence but limited transparency.
Gulen initially supported Erdogan during his rise to power in the early 2000s, but by 2010, their relationship deteriorated. The tensions escalated in 2013 when Erdogan’s government faced corruption allegations, which he attributed to Gulenists infiltrating Turkey’s judiciary, prompting a purge of Gulen’s followers.
Following the failed coup in 2016, Erdogan intensified his crackdown, leading to approximately 3,000 alleged followers receiving life sentences and legal actions taken against 700,000 individuals. Over 125,000 government employees, including 24,000 military personnel, lost their jobs during this period, affecting many judges as well.
Despite the accusations, Gulen denied any involvement in the coup, suggesting that Erdogan’s government had orchestrated the incident as a pretext to suppress dissent.
While news of Gulen’s death circulated widely in Turkish media, there was no immediate reaction from the Turkish government. According to BBC reports, Gulen was often referred to as one of Turkey’s most powerful figures and had been living in self-imposed exile in the U.S. since he was admitted to a Pennsylvania hospital.
As the spiritual leader of the Gulen movement, he cultivated a global Islamic community with a strong following both in Turkey and abroad. The movement gained recognition for its educational initiatives but faced backlash as Gulen’s followers began to occupy various business and governmental roles. Erdogan perceived this as a “state within a state” and pledged in 2013 to dismantle the movement’s schools and expel Gulenists from the government.
Politico further elaborates on Gulen’s decline, noting that although he was once aligned with Erdogan, their relationship turned adversarial following corruption investigations into Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AK Party) that began in 2015. Erdogan accused Gulen of manipulating Turkey’s judiciary and sought to eradicate his influence, describing him and his supporters as a “virus” that needed to be “purged” from society.
The Times of Israel noted that Gulen was stripped of his Turkish nationality in 2017. Despite Erdogan’s persistent requests for Gulen’s extradition from the U.S., Washington did not comply, further straining relations between the two nations. Gulen maintained that the allegations against him were unfounded and asserted that Erdogan exploited the coup attempt to justify widespread repression.
