Self-exiled Turkish religious chief Fethullah Gülen dies in Pennsylvania

SAYLORSBURG, Pa. — Fethullah Gülen, a reclusive U.S.-based Islamic cleric who impressed a world social motion whereas going through accusations he masterminded a failed 2016 coup in his native Turkey, has died.

Abdullah Bozkurt, the previous editor of the Gülen-linked Right now’s Zaman newspaper, who’s now in exile in Sweden, mentioned Monday that he spoke to Gülen’s nephew, Kemal Gülen, who confirmed the dying. Fethullah Gülen was in his eighties and had lengthy been in sick well being.

Turkish International Minister Hakan Fidan mentioned the dying has been confirmed by Turkish intelligence sources.

“The leader of this dark organization has died,” he mentioned.

Gülen spent the final a long time of his life in self-exile, residing on a gated compound in Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains, from the place he continued to wield affect amongst his hundreds of thousands of followers in Turkey and all through the world. He espoused a philosophy that blended Sufism — a mystical type of Islam — with staunch advocacy of democracy, schooling, science and interfaith dialogue.

Gülen started as an ally of Turkish chief Recep Tayyip Erdogan, however grew to become a foe. He known as Erdogan an authoritarian bent on accumulating energy and crushing dissent. Erdogan solid Gülen as a terrorist, accusing him of orchestrating the tried navy coup on the evening of July 15, 2016, when factions inside the navy used tanks, warplanes and helicopters to attempt to overthrow Erdogan’s authorities.

Heeding a name from the president, 1000’s took to the streets to oppose the takeover try. The coup-plotters fired at crowds and bombed parliament and different authorities buildings. A complete of 251 individuals have been killed and round 2,200 others have been wounded. Round 35 alleged coup plotters have been additionally killed.

Gülen adamantly denied involvement, and his supporters dismissed the costs as ridiculous and politically motivated. Turkey put Gülen on its most-wanted listing and demanded his extradition, however the USA confirmed little inclination to ship him again, saying it wanted extra proof. Gülen was by no means charged with a criminal offense within the U.S., and he constantly denounced terrorism in addition to the coup plotters.

In Turkey, Gülen’s motion — generally generally known as Hizmet, Turkish for “service” — was subjected to a broad crackdown. The federal government arrested tens of 1000’s of individuals for his or her alleged hyperlink to the coup plot, sacked greater than 130,000 suspected supporters from civil service jobs and greater than 23,000 from the navy, and shuttered lots of of companies, colleges and media organizations tied to Gülen.

Gülen known as the crackdown a witch hunt and denounced Turkey’s leaders as “tyrants.”

“The last year has taken a toll on me as hundreds of thousands of innocent Turkish citizens are being punished simply because the government decides they are somehow ‘connected’ to me or the Hizmet movement and treats that alleged connection as a crime,” he mentioned on the one-year anniversary of the failed coup.

Turkish International Minister Fidan mentioned Monday that Gülen’s dying “is not going to make us complacent or relaxed. This group has been a menace hardly ever seen within the historical past of our nation.”

“Our nation, our state will continue to fight against this organization as they do with all kinds of terrorist organizations,” Fidan said.

He also called on Gülen’s followers to turn away from “this treasonous wrong path.”

Gülen preached that religion and science could go hand in hand

Fethullah Gülen was born in Erzurum, in eastern Turkey. His official birth date was April 27, 1941, but that has long been in dispute. Y. Alp Aslandogan, who leads a New York-based group that promotes Gülen’s ideas and work, said Gülen was actually born sometime in 1938.

Trained as an imam, or prayer leader, Gülen gained notice in Turkey some 50 years ago. He preached tolerance and dialogue between faiths, and he believed religion and science could go hand in hand. His belief in merging Islam with Western values and Turkish nationalism struck a chord with Turks, earning him millions of followers.

Gülen’s acolytes constructed a loosely affiliated world community of charitable foundations, skilled associations, companies and colleges in additional than 100 nations, together with 150 taxpayer-funded constitution colleges all through the USA. In Turkey, supporters ran universities, hospitals, charities, a financial institution and a big media empire with newspapers and radio and TV stations.

However Gülen was seen with suspicion by some in his homeland, a deeply polarized nation cut up between these loyal to its fiercely secular traditions and supporters of the Islamic-based get together related to Erdogan that got here to energy in 2002.

Gülen had lengthy kept away from overtly supporting any political get together, however his motion solid a de facto alliance with Erdogan towards the nation’s previous guard of staunch, military-backed secularists, and Gülen’s media empire threw its weight behind Erdogan’s Islamic-oriented authorities.

Gülenists helped the governing get together win a number of elections. However the Erdogan-Gulen alliance started to crumble after the motion criticized authorities coverage and uncovered alleged corruption amongst Erdogan’s inside circle. Erdogan, who denied the allegations, grew weary of the rising affect of Gülen’s motion.

Erdogan charged Gülen with plotting to overthrow him

The Turkish chief accused Gülen’s followers of infiltrating the nation’s police and judiciary and organising a parallel state, and started agitating for Gülen’s extradition to Turkey even earlier than the failed 2016 coup.

The cleric had lived in the USA since 1999, when he got here to hunt medical remedy.

In 2000, with Gülen nonetheless within the U.S, Turkish authorities charged him with main an Islamist plot to overthrow the nation’s secular type of authorities and set up a non secular state.

A few of the accusations towards him have been primarily based on a tape recording on which Gülen was alleged to have informed supporters of an Islamic state to bide their time: “If they come out too early, the world will quash their heads.” Gülen mentioned his feedback have been taken out of context.

The cleric was tried in absentia and acquitted, however he by no means returned to his homeland. He received a prolonged authorized battle towards the administration of then-President George W. Bush to acquire everlasting residency within the U.S.

Not often seen in public, Gülen lived quietly on the grounds of an Islamic retreat heart within the Poconos. He occupied a small condominium on the sprawling compound and left largely solely to see docs for illnesses that included coronary heart illness and diabetes, spending a lot of his time in prayer and meditation and receiving guests from around the globe.

Gülen by no means married and didn’t have youngsters. It’s not identified who, if anybody, will lead the motion.