Fethullah Gülen, US-based cleric accused of Turkish coup attempt, dies at 83
Source: The Guardian
The US-based cleric Fethullah Gülen, who built a powerful Islamic movement in Turkey and beyond but spent his later years mired in accusations of orchestrating an attempted coup against the Turkish leader, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has died. He was 83.
Herkul, a website that publishes Gülen’s sermons, posted on X that Gülen had died on Sunday evening in the US hospital where he was being treated.
Gülen was a one-time ally of Erdoğan but they fell out spectacularly, and Erdoğan held him responsible for the 2016 attempted coup in which rogue troops commandeered warplanes, tanks and helicopters. Two hundred and 50 people were killed in the attempt to seize power.
Gülen, who had lived in self-imposed exile in the US since 1999, denied involvement in the putsch.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/oct/21/fethullah-gulen-us-based-cleric-accused-of-turkish-coup-attempt-dies-at-83
How the 2016 attempted coup was organised was never really explained. It was very convenient for Erdoğan to blame it on Gülen and his Hizmet movement, but it has never really been demonstrated - it was just held as true and therefore a reason for purging anyone who might have been associated with it from public employment.