Fethullah Gülen, the Turkish cleric who inspired a global social movement and faced accusations of masterminding a failed 2016 coup attempt in his native Turkey, has died at the age of 83. The news was confirmed by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, who cited intelligence sources, and was also reported by a website associated with Gülen’s movement.
Gülen, who had been living in self-imposed exile in the United States since 1999, passed away in a hospital in Pennsylvania, where he had been receiving treatment for some time. He had resided in a gated compound in the Pocono Mountains, from where he continued to wield influence among his millions of followers worldwide.
Gülen’s life was marked by a dramatic rise and fall from being an ally of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to becoming his fiercest critic and accused coup plotter. Born in 1941 in the eastern Turkish province of Erzurum, Gülen grew up in a religious family and studied the Quran from a young age. He later became an imam and gained prominence in the 1960s as a preacher in the western province of Izmir, where he founded a network of boarding houses for students.
This network would evolve into a powerful movement known as Hizmet, which translates to “service” in Turkish. Hizmet spread through education, business, media, and state institutions, gaining significant influence in Turkey and beyond. The movement established schools, free tutoring centers, hospitals, and relief agencies, addressing some of Turkey’s social problems.
Gülen and his followers were initially allies of Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP), helping the government to carry out military purges and court cases targeting secularist generals and officers. However, their relationship began to sour in the early 2010s, triggered by tensions over the government’s attempts to shut down Hizmet educational centers and accusations of bribery against senior administration officials.
The rift culminated in the attempted coup on July 15, 2016, when factions within the Turkish military used tanks, warplanes, and helicopters to try to overthrow Erdogan’s government. The coup was quashed after a night of violence that left 251 people dead and over 2,200 injured. Erdogan swiftly blamed Gülen for orchestrating the attempted coup, describing his network as traitors and “like a cancer.”
Gülen denied any involvement in the coup, calling the accusations politically motivated. Turkey put Gülen on its most-wanted list and demanded his extradition from the United States, but the US showed little inclination to comply, citing a lack of evidence linking him directly to the coup.
In the aftermath of the coup attempt, Turkey launched a broad crackdown on Hizmet supporters, arresting tens of thousands of people, sacking over 130,000 civil servants and more than 23,000 military personnel, and shutting down hundreds of businesses, schools, and media organizations linked to Gülen.
Despite the crackdown, Gülen continued to deny the accusations against him, maintaining his innocence from his compound in Pennsylvania. He condemned the coup attempt “in the strongest terms” and called on his followers to remain committed to education, dialogue, and peaceful activism.
Gülen’s death has sparked mixed reactions in Turkey. While some have celebrated the news, others have warned that the fight against Hizmet and its alleged terrorist activities will continue. Foreign Minister Fidan vowed that Turkey’s determination in the fight against terrorism would remain ongoing, and the news of Gülen’s death would not lead to complacency.