Turkish Cleric Gulen Dies in US Exile

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Facts

  • Fethullah Gulen, an influential Turkish Muslim cleric, died Sunday at 83 in a US hospital where he was receiving treatment.[1][2]
  • Gulen, who was living in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since 1999, was accused by Turkish Pres. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of orchestrating a failed 2016 coup attempt, which Gulen denied. The coup attempt left around 250 dead and over 2K injured.[1][3]
  • Gulen rose to prominence as a preacher in the 1960s. From there, the Gulen movement, known as 'Hizmet,' spread its influence through education, business, and media — promoting a moderate brand of Islam with Western-style education and interfaith dialogue.[1]
  • Following the coup attempt, Turkey designated Gulen's movement as a terrorist organization, leading to tens of thousands of arrests and the suspension of 150K state workers.[4][5]
  • Gulen and Erdoğan were once allies, but their relationship soured after corruption investigations targeting Erdoğan's associates in 2013.[4][1]
  • The Turkish government repeatedly sought and failed to obtain Gulen's extradition from the US. In 2017, he told reporters that he had no plans to flee the US to avoid extradition.[4][6]

Sources: [1]Guardian, [2]NBC, [3]Arab News, [4]Al Jazeera, [5]Middleeastmonitor and [6]TASS.

Narratives

  • Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by New York Times and Voice of America. Turkey has never provided much evidence for its elaborate allegations against Gulen and the US. Gulen had a controversial and complicated relationship with Erdoğan. Given that Gulen and Erdoğan held somewhat aligned views, their differences were likely connected to the corruption charges against the president rather than religious beliefs.
  • Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by Daily Sabah. Gulen's long-standing ties to US interests, including alleged links to American intelligence agencies, make it completely reasonable to question whether he worked with Western powers to orchestrate the coup. Washington's refusal to extradite him, not to mention testimonies in Turkey, confirmed his followers were working to destabilize the Turkish government.

Predictions