Istanbul (AFP) – US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, who was accused by Turkish authorities of organising a failed 2016 coup, has died in exile in the United States aged 83, his personal website said. Turkish public television reported that the preacher, who had lived in Pennsylvania since 1999 and was stripped of his Turkish nationality in 2017, died in hospital. Gulen’s website, Herkul, which is banned in Turkey, stated that the imam died on “October 20”.
Gulen had been an ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. However, after going into exile, Erdogan’s government accused his Hizmet organisation of being a “terrorist” group and Gulen of attempting a coup in 2016, which he denied. Hizmet, which means “service” in Turkish, runs a network of Islamic schools around the world and has become an influential but opaque group.
Initially, Gulen allied with Erdogan to help him win elections in the 2000s, but they became sworn enemies after disagreements started in 2010. Erdogan launched a crackdown on Gulen followers following corruption allegations made in 2013 against the president’s Justice and Development Party, claiming that the investigators were Gulen followers.
The failed coup against Erdogan in 2016 deepened the rift, with the president accusing Gulen of orchestrating the coup. Following this, 3,000 Gulen followers were given life in jail, and legal action was taken against 700,000 people. About 125,000 government workers, including 24,000 soldiers and thousands of investigating magistrates, were sacked.
News of Gulen’s death was widely reported by Turkish media on Monday, but the government made no immediate comment.
© 2024 AFP
