Fethullah Gülen, a reclusive U.S.-based Islamic cleric, has died. Gülen impressed a worldwide social motion whereas dealing with accusations he masterminded a failed 2016 coup in his native Turkey.
Abdullah Bozkurt, the previous editor of the Gülen-linked Right now’s Zaman newspaper, who’s now in exile in Sweden, stated he spoke to Gülen’s nephew, Kemal Gülen, who confirmed the loss of life. Fethullah Gülen was in his 80s and had lengthy been in unwell well being.
The state-run Anadolu Company quoted Turkish Overseas Minister Hakan Fidan as saying Turkish intelligence sources had confirmed the loss of life.
“The chief of this darkish group has died,” he stated.
Gülen spent the final many years 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 thousands and 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, training, science and interfaith dialogue.
Relationship with Erdogan turned
Gülen started as an ally of Turkish chief Recep Tayyip Erdogan, however grew to become a foe. He referred to 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 folks 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.
Gülen was by no means charged with a criminal offense within the U.S., and Turkey didn’t present proof to allow his extradition. He has persistently denounced terrorism in addition to the coup-plotters.
In Turkey, Gülen’s motion — typically referred to 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 a whole lot of companies, faculties and media organizations tied to Gülen.
Gülen denounced Turkey’s leaders as “tyrants” because of this.
International community of organizations
Fethullah Gülen was born in Erzurum, in jap Turkey. His official start date was April 27, 1941, however that has lengthy been in dispute. Y. Alp Aslandogan, who leads a New York-based group that promotes Gülen’s concepts and work, stated Gülen was truly born someday in 1938.
Skilled as an imam, or prayer chief, Gülen gained discover in Turkey some 50 years in the past. He preached tolerance and dialogue between faiths, and he believed faith and science might go hand in hand. His perception in merging Islam with Western values and Turkish nationalism struck a chord with Turks, incomes him thousands and thousands of followers.
Gülen’s acolytes constructed a loosely affiliated world community of charitable foundations, skilled associations, companies and faculties in additional than 100 international locations, together with in Canada and the US. 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 considered with suspicion by some in his homeland, a deeply polarized nation break up between these loyal to its fiercely secular traditions and supporters of the Islamic-based social gathering related to Erdogan that got here to energy in 2002.
Gülen had lengthy kept away from overtly supporting any political social gathering, however his motion cast 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 social gathering win a number of elections. However the Erdogan-Gülen alliance started to crumble after the motion criticized authorities coverage and uncovered alleged corruption amongst Erdogan’s internal circle.
Erdogan, who denied the allegations, grew weary of the rising affect of Gülen’s motion. 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 US 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 spiritual state.
A few of the accusations towards him have been based mostly on a tape recording on which Gülen was alleged to have instructed supporters of an Islamic state to bide their time: “If they arrive out too early, the world will quash their heads.” Gülen stated 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 gained a prolonged authorized battle towards the administration of then-president George W. Bush to acquire everlasting residency within the U.S.
Hardly ever seen in public, Gülen lived quietly on the grounds of an Islamic retreat centre within the Poconos. He occupied a small condo 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 all over the world.
Gülen by no means married and didn’t have youngsters. It’s not identified who, if anybody, will lead the motion.
