A reclusive Islamic preacher residing in the United States, Fethullah Gulen, died despite being accused of masterminding a failed 2016 coup in his native Turkey and inspiring a global social movement.
Gulen passed away Sunday night at a hospital close to his home in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania, according to the Alliance for Shared Values, a New York-based organization that supports his work in the United States. Gulen, who was in his 80s and had been in poor health for a long time, passed away naturally, according to Monroe County Coroner Thomas Yanac Jr.
He is a “towering figure of faith, wisdom, intellectual and spiritual leadership,” according to the group, and his influence “will be felt for generations.”
Living in a gated enclave and exercising power over his millions of followers, Gulen spent the latter decades of his life in self-exile. He promoted a worldview that combined his strong support for democracy, education, science, and interfaith understanding with Sufism, a mystical branch of Islam.
In recent years, Gulen had not been actively involved in his movement. According to the Alliance for Shared Values, the work will be continued by a group of close friends who have counseled him for decades.
The religious leader turned against Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan after first supporting him. He referred to Erdogan as an authoritarian who is out to seize power and stifle criticism. Erdogan branded Gulen a terrorist and charged him with planning the July 15, 2016, military coup attempt, in which military factions attempted to topple the government with the use of tanks, aircraft, and helicopters.
Thousands of people protested the takeover attempt in the streets in response to the president’s request. The conspirators of the coup bombed the parliament and other government buildings and opened fire on demonstrators. There were over 2,200 injuries and 251 fatalities in all. About thirty-five suspected coup plotters were slain.
Gulen’s supporters dismissed the accusations as politically motivated and absurd, and Gulen vehemently denied any involvement. The United States had little interest in sending Gulen back, claiming it required more proof, while Turkey placed him on its most-wanted list and sought his extradition. He continuously condemned both the coup plotters and terrorists, yet he was never charged with a crime in the United States.
Gulen’s passing “will not make us complacent or relaxed,” Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan stated on Monday. This group has posed a threat that has rarely been observed in our country’s history. He urged Gulen’s adherents to abandon “this treasonous wrong path.”
Gulen’s movement, commonly referred to as Hizmet, which is Turkish for “service,” has been widely suppressed in Turkey. Tens of thousands of people were detained by the government on suspicion of having ties to the coup attempt; more than 130,000 suspected followers were fired from their positions in the public service and more than 23,000 were dismissed from the military; hundreds of Gulen-affiliated businesses, educational institutions, and media outlets were shut down.
Gulen criticized Turkey’s authorities as “tyrants” and referred to the crackdown as a witch hunt.
On the first anniversary of the failed coup, he said, “The past 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.”
Gulen’s extensive network continues to pose a threat to Turkey, according to Ozgur Ozel, the chairman of the Republican People’s Party, the country’s major opposition party.
“The company still exists even though the founder is no longer among us. Nobody should believe that this threat is no longer present. Ozel declared, “Everyone needs to be vigilant against this organization.”
Turkey’s broadcasting watchdog issued a warning on Monday over anything that glorifies Gulen, stating that no broadcaster should glorify a “terrorist.” A journalist who expressed her desire that he would rest in heaven was the subject of an inquiry by prosecutors in the northwest province of Bursa on potential accusations of terrorist propaganda, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency.
Gulen endured decades of persecution in Turkey, and only Turkey accuses Gulen’s nonviolent Hizmet movement of being a terrorist organization, according to Abdulhamit Bilici, who was editor of the Gulen-affiliated Zaman newspaper when Erdogan closed it in early 2016.
In an interview conducted at the retreat center in Pennsylvania where Gulen resided, Bilici stated, “He was an inspiration to millions of people, not just in Turkey but all over the world.” Thus, it is a profoundly depressing day that calls for introspection, sadness, contemplation, and prayer.
Gulen was born in the eastern Turkish city of Erzurum. The date of his formal birth, April 27, 1941, has long been disputed. According to Y. Alp Aslan dogan, the head of a group based in New York that advocates for Gulen’s theories and writings, Gulen was born in 1938.
Gulen, who received training as an imam, or prayer leader, rose to prominence in Turkey some fifty years ago. He met with Pope John Paul II in 1998 and advocated for interfaith dialogue and tolerance. He also thought that religion and science could coexist. He gained millions of supporters because of his conviction that Islam should be combined with Western ideals and Turkish nationalism.
Gulen’s followers established a loosely connected international network of businesses, professional groups, charity foundations, and educational institutions spanning over 100 countries, including 150 taxpayer-funded charter schools in the US. Supporters operated hospitals, universities, charities, a bank, and a huge media empire in Turkey that included radio, television, and newspapers.
However, those in his native country, which is sharply divided between adherents of its fervently secular traditions and followers of the Erdogan-affiliated Islamic-based party that took office in 2002, viewed Gulen with distrust.
Although Gulen had long avoided publicly endorsing any political party, his organization formed a de facto coalition with Erdogan in opposition to the nation’s traditional guard of ardent, military-backed secularists, and Gulen’s media empire lent its support to Erdogan’s government, which was oriented toward Islam.
The ruling party won several elections with the support of gulenists. However, once the movement uncovered alleged corruption within Erdogan’s inner circle and questioned government policies, the Erdogan-Gulen relationship started to fall apart. Erdogan, who refuted the accusations, became impatient with Gulen’s movement’s increasing power.
Even before the failed 2016 coup, the Turkish leader started pushing for Gulen’s extradition to Turkey, accusing his supporters of infiltrating the nation’s courts and police and creating a parallel state.
Since 1999, when he arrived to receive medical care, the cleric has resided in the United States.
Turkish authorities accused Gulen of spearheading an Islamist conspiracy to topple the nation’s secular government and install a religious state in 2000 when he was still in the United States.
A tape recording purportedly captured Gulen telling proponents of an Islamic state to wait it out, saying, “If they come out too early, the world will quash their heads,” which served as the basis for some of the accusations leveled against him. His remarks were taken out of context, according to Gulen.
Despite being convicted in absentia and found not guilty, the clergyman never went back to his native country. He prevailed in a protracted legal struggle against the George W. Bush administration to be granted permanent status in the United States.
Gulen resided quietly on the grounds of the Pennsylvania Islamic retreat center, rarely seen in public. He primarily left to meet specialists for conditions like diabetes and heart disease. He spent most of his time in prayer and meditation, and he welcomed people from all over the world.
Gulen had no children and was never married.
