Guardian

Fethullah Gulen, an influential Turkish Muslim cleric, died Sunday at 83 in a US hospital where he was receiving treatment.

Arab News

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.

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.

Al Jazeera

Middleeastmonitor

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.

Gulen and Erdogan were once allies, but their relationship soured after corruption investigations targeting Erdogan's associates in 2013.

TASS

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.

Guardian #3968

NBC #4116

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 communication.

Al Jazeera #4135

Turkey has never provided much evidence for its elaborate allegations against Gulen and the US. Gulen had a controversial and complicated relationship with Erdogan. Given that Gulen and Erdogan were secularists, their differences were likely connected to the corruption charges against the president rather than religious beliefs.

New York Times

New York Times #

Fethullah Gulen, Turkish Cleric Accused of Coup Attempts, Dies

Voice of America

Gulen, powerful cleric accused of orchestrating a Turkish coup, dies

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.

Daily Sabah

US-based terrorist leader Fetullah Gülen dead at 83

Pictures from History/Contributor/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Turkish Cleric Gulen Dies in US Exile

Turkey

Politics

Military coups

Religion

United States 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 Erdogan. 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.

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.

There's a 7% chance that Turkey will be a member of the EU by 2040, according to the Metaculus prediction community.

Metaculus

Turkey a member of the European Union by 2040

Videos

Apps

Turkish Cleric Gulen Dies in US Exile

Turkish Cleric Gulen Dies in US Exile

The Facts

The Spin

Metaculus Prediction

Sign up to our daily newsletter