Fethullah.Gülen, founder and leader of the Gülen Movement,. has died in the US state of Pennsylvania, where he had lived since 1999. Gülen had been accused by the Turkish government of orchestrating. Turkey’s failed coup d’etat attempt in 2016.
Gülen’s death was announced early Monday (October 21) by a Gülen-affiliated website. The announcement read:
“The honorable Fethullah.Gülen, who spent every moment of his life serving the manifest religion of. Islam and humanity, ascended to heaven on October 20th. Detailed information regarding the burial procedures will be shared with the public.”
Gülen’s death was also confirmed by his nephew Ebuseleme Gülen through social media. Early reports indicated that Gülen died in a hospital.
Fethullah.Gülen
The Gülen movement was founded as an Islamist fraternal movement in 1969. At its peak prior to. 2016’s failed coup attempt, the movement operated educational institutions, clinics, and foundations in. 180 countries across the world.
The movement was viewed as an Islamist ally of. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan during the early years of. Justice and Development Party (AKP) rule in the early. 2000s, as both groups sought to curb the power of the. Turkish military amidst the country’s push for European Union accession.
2016 coup attempt
However, the Gülen movement fell out of favor with the. AKP in the early 2010s, culminating in a 2013 corruption scandal targeting AKP politicians that was allegedly initiated by officials with close ties to Gülen. In May 2016, the Gülen was classified as a terrorist organization by the Turkish government under the name. Fethullah Terrorist Organization (FETÖ).
Following Turkey’s failed coup d’etat on July 15th, 2016, the government blamed the. Gülen movement for orchestrating the attempt, a charge which Fethullah.Gülen denied. The failed coup was followed by mass purges of Turkey’s military, judiciary, and academia, in which thousands of personnel with alleged ties to the group were dismissed or imprisoned.
Shortly after the coup attempt, Turkey requested the extradition of Fethullah. Gülen from the United States to stand trial for numerous offenses including ‘violation of constitutional order’, ‘running a terrorist organization’, ‘attempting to assassinate the president’, ‘attempting to abolish the Turkish government’, and others. The United States dismissed these extradition requests due to lack of evidence. In 2017, Gülen’s Turkish citizenship was revoked.
All Gülen-run schools and foundations in Turkey have been shut down since 2016, as well as in Turkey-allied counties such as Somalia and Pakistan. The Turkish government continues to pursue the closure of Gülen-affiliated institutions around the world.
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Since 1999, Gülen had lived at a movement-affiliated retreat in a rural part of northeastern Pennsylvania near the town of Saylorsburg.
By Leo Kendrick
