TRT: Fethullah Gülen has died
Turkish state broadcaster TRT said on Monday that US-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen has died, citing accounts on social media platforms and websites close to his group.
TRT indicated that Gülen, who is accused by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of being behind the coup attempt in 2016, died last night in the hospital.
Ankara accuses Gülen of being responsible for the failed coup attempt in the country in 2016.
Gülen built a powerful Islamist movement at home and abroad, but has spent the past few years accused of orchestrating a coup attempt against President Erdogan, he has repeatedly denied the charges.
Likewise, the Gülen-affiliated website Herkul, which is banned in Türkiye, announced the preacher’s death on October 20.
Fethullah Gülen, the inspiration behind the Gülen movement, also called Hizmet (meaning service), has been a resident of Pennsylvania in the United States since 1999.
On 2017, the Turkish authorities stripped him of his Turkish citizenship.
Erdogan was previously allied with the Gülen movement, but it turned into his bitter enemy after the coup attempt on July 15, 2016.
Since then, Turkish authorities have carried out mass arrests that have included hundreds of his supporters.
