Self-exiled Turkish spiritual leader Fethullah Gülen has died in Pennsylvania

Mike Rubinkam
| Associated Press

Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania. — Fethullah Gülen, a reclusive U.S.-based Islamic cleric who inspired a global social movement amid accusations he masterminded a failed 2016 coup attempt in his native Turkey, has died.

Abdullah Bozkurt, the former editor of the Gülen-linked newspaper Today's Zaman who is now in exile in Sweden, said on Monday he had spoken to Gülen's nephew Kemal Gülen, who confirmed the death. Fethullah Gülen was in his 80s and had long been in poor health.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said the death had been confirmed by Turkish intelligence sources.

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

Gülen spent the last decades of his life in self-exile, living in a gated compound in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania, from where he continued to exert influence over his millions of followers in Turkey and around the world. He represented a philosophy that combined Sufism – a mystical form of Islam – with a strong commitment to democracy, education, science and interreligious dialogue.

Gülen started as an ally of Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan but became an enemy. He called Erdogan an authoritarian bent on amassing power and suppressing dissent. Erdogan called Gulen a terrorist and accused him of orchestrating the attempted military coup on the night of July 15, 2016, when factions within the military used tanks, fighter jets and helicopters to try to overthrow Erdogan's government.

Following a call from the president, thousands took to the streets to resist the takeover attempt. The coup plotters fired on crowds and bombed parliament and other government buildings. A total of 251 people were killed and around 2,200 others were injured. In addition, around 35 suspected coup plotters were killed.

Gülen strongly denied involvement and his supporters dismissed the allegations as ridiculous and politically motivated. Turkey put Gulen on its wanted list and demanded his extradition, but the United States showed little inclination to send him back, saying it needed more evidence. Gülen was never charged with a crime in the United States and he consistently condemned terrorism and coup plotters.

In Turkey, Gülen's movement – sometimes known as Hizmet, Turkish for “service” – has faced a widespread crackdown. The government arrested tens of thousands of people for their alleged connection to the coup attempt, fired more than 130,000 suspected supporters from civil service and more than 23,000 from the military, and closed hundreds of Gülen-linked businesses, schools and media organizations.

Gulen called the crackdown a witch hunt and called Turkish leaders “tyrants.”

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

Turkish Foreign Minister Fidan said Monday that Gulen's death “will neither make us complacent nor relaxed.” This organization was a threat rarely seen in our country’s history.”

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

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

Fethullah Gülen was born in Erzurum in eastern Turkey. His official date of birth was April 27, 1941, but this has long been disputed. 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 rose to prominence in Turkey about 50 years ago. He preached tolerance and dialogue between faiths and believed that religion and science could go hand in hand. His belief in the combination of Islam with Western values and Turkish nationalism was well received by Turks and gained him millions of followers.

Gulen's followers built a loosely connected global network of nonprofit foundations, professional associations, corporations and schools in more than 100 countries, including 150 taxpayer-funded charter schools across the United States. In Turkey, supporters ran universities, hospitals, charities, a bank and a large media empire including newspapers and radio and television stations.

But Gulen was viewed with suspicion by some in his homeland, a deeply polarized country divided between those loyal to his strict secular traditions and supporters of the Erdogan-linked Islamist party that came to power in 2002.

Gulen had long refrained from openly supporting any political party, but his movement effectively forged an alliance with Erdogan against the country's old guard of staunch, military-backed secularists, and Gulen's media empire threw its full weight behind Erdogan's Islamic-oriented government.

Gülenists helped the ruling party win several elections. But the Erdogan-Gülen alliance began to crumble after the movement criticized government policies and exposed suspected corruption in Erdogan's inner circle. Erdogan, who denied the allegations, was tired of the Gülen movement's growing influence.

The Turkish leader accused Gülen's supporters of infiltrating the country's police and judiciary and establishing a parallel state, and began advocating for Gülen's extradition to Turkey even before the failed 2016 coup.

The cleric had been living in the United States since 1999, when he came here to seek medical treatment.

In 2000, while Gülen was still in the United States, Turkish authorities accused him of leading an Islamist plot to overthrow the country's secular form of government and establish a religious state.

Some of the allegations against him were based on a tape recording in which Gulen is said to have told Islamic State supporters to wait: “If they come out too soon, the world will crush their heads.” Gulen said his comments were from the connection has been torn.

The priest was tried in absentia and acquitted, but never returned to his homeland. He won a lengthy legal battle against the administration of then-President George W. Bush for permanent residency in the United States

Gülen was rarely seen in public and lived quietly on the grounds of an Islamic retreat center in the Poconos. He lived in a small apartment on the extensive grounds and usually only left the house to see doctors for illnesses such as heart disease and diabetes. He spent much of his time in prayer and meditation and received visitors from all over the world.

Gülen never married and had no children. It is unknown who, if anyone, will lead the movement.

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