Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has confirmed on Monday the death of U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, held responsible by Ankara for an attempted coup in Turkey in 2016, describing him as the leader of a “dark organisation,” Reuters reports.
Gulen denied involvement in the failed coup, but his movement was designated as a terrorist organisation by Turkey.
Gulen was a one-time ally of Erdogan but they fell out spectacularly, and Erdogan held him responsible for the 2016 attempted coup in which rogue soldiers commandeered warplanes, tanks and helicopters. Some 250 people were killed in the bid to seize power. Gulen, who had lived in self-imposed exile in the United States since 1999, denied involvement in the putsch.
According to its followers, Gulen’s movement – known as “Hizmet” which means “service” in Turkish – seeks to spread a moderate brand of Islam that promotes Western-style education, free markets and interfaith communication.
Gulen had been a close ally of Erdogan and his AK Party, but growing tensions in their relationship exploded in December 2013 when corruption investigations targeting ministers and officials close to Erdogan came to light.
Prosecutors and police from Gulen’s Hizmet movement were widely believed to be behind the investigations and an arrest warrant was issued for Gulen in 2014, with his movement designated as a terrorist group two years later.
Soon after the 2016 coup, Erdogan described Gulen’s network as traitors and “like a cancer”, vowing to root them out wherever they are. Hundreds of schools, companies, media outlets and associations linked to him were shut down and assets seized.
In a crackdown after the failed putsch, which the government said targeted Gulen’s followers, at least 77,000 people were arrested and 150,000 state workers including teachers, judges and soldiers suspended under emergency rule.
