An undated screenshot from the video shows Fetullah Gulen, the leader of a group that the Turkish government claims is behind Turkey’s failed 2016 coup and has designated him La Terrorist Organization (FETO). Social media accounts associated with the Fethullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) claimed that the group’s leader, Fethullah Gulen, was dead.
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Fethullah Gulen, the U.S.-based cleric who built a powerful Islamist movement in Turkey and beyond but who in his later years was mired in accusations of masterminding a failed coup against Turkish leader Tayyip Erdogan, has died . He is 83 years old.
Herkul, the website that posted Gulen’s sermons, said on its X account that Gulen died Sunday night while receiving treatment in a US hospital.
Gulen was once an ally of Erdogan, but they fell out and Erdogan held him responsible for a failed 2016 coup in which rogue soldiers commandeered warplanes, tanks and helicopters. About 250 people were killed in the seizure of power.
Gulen, who has been in self-exile in the United States since 1999, has denied involvement in the coup, but his movement is designated a terrorist organization by Türkiye.
Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan confirmed his death, calling him the leader of a “dark organization” and saying Turkey would continue its campaign against the group.
“Our country will continue to be steadfast in our fight against terrorism, and the news of his death will never make us complacent,” Fidan told a news conference.
According to his followers, Gulen’s movement – known as “Hizmet”, which means “service” in Turkish – aims to spread a moderate Islam and promote Western-style education, free markets and interfaith exchanges.
After the failed coup, his movement was systematically dismantled in Türkiye and its international influence declined.
A view of the Monroe campus of St. Luke’s Hospital where Fetullah Gulen, the leader of the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), a group recognized by the Turkish government, died on October 21, 2024, in Pennsylvania, United States. Intelligence services have confirmed the death of Fethullah Gulen, the leader of the FETO terror group, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Monday.
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Born in 1941 in a village in Turkey’s eastern Erzurum province, Gülen is known as “Hodjaefendi” (respected teacher) by his supporters. ), he studied the Quran since he was a child.
In 1959, Gülen was appointed imam of a mosque in the northwestern city of Edirne and rose to prominence as a preacher in the 1960s in the western province of Izmir, where he set up student dormitories and visited teahouses. Preach.
These student homes marked the beginning of an informal network that would spread through education, business, media and state institutions over the coming decades.
His influence also spread through the school network beyond Türkiye’s borders to the Central Asian Turkic Republics, the Balkans, Africa and the West.
Fidan said he hoped Gulen’s death would lift the “spell” on Turkey’s young people, who have embarked on a path of “betrayal” of the country under the pretext of religious values. “This is not a good road,” he added.
Erdogan’s former allies
Gulen had been a close ally of Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party, but relations between the two sides became increasingly tense in December 2013 after a corruption investigation into ministers and officials close to Erdogan came to light.
Prosecutors and police from Gulen’s Hizmet movement are widely believed to be behind the investigation, and an arrest warrant was issued for Gulen in 2014.
Shortly after the 2016 coup, Erdogan described Gulen’s network as traitorous and “like a cancer” and vowed to root them out wherever they were. Hundreds of schools, companies, media and associations associated with him were closed and their assets confiscated.
Gulen condemned the coup attempt “in the strongest terms”.
“As someone who has endured multiple military coups over the past five years, it is particularly insulting to be accused of having any connection to such an attempt,” he said.
The government says at least 77,000 people have been arrested in a post-coup crackdown against Gulen’s followers, and 150,000 state workers, including teachers, judges and soldiers, have been suspended under a state of emergency.
Companies and media outlets believed to be linked to Gulen were seized or shut down by the state. The government said its actions were justified given the seriousness of the threat the coup posed to the country.
Gulen has also been reviled by Türkiye’s opposition, which believes his network has conspired for decades to undermine the republic’s secular foundations.
Ankara has long sought his extradition from the United States.
Speaking from a gated compound in Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains, Gulen said in a 2017 interview with Reuters that he had no plans to flee the United States to avoid extradition. Even then, he appeared frail and his long-time doctor was nearby.
