New York (Web Desk): Fethullah Gulen, the Islamic cleric who lived in exile in the United States (US), has passed away at the age of 83.
He was a central figure in a powerful movement in Turkey and beyond but spent his final years facing allegations of masterminding an attempted coup against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
According to Herkul, a website that shares Gulen's sermons, he died on Sunday evening in a hospital in the US where he had been receiving treatment.
Gulen's relationship with Erdogan started as a partnership, but they later had a dramatic falling out.
Following the failed coup in 2016, during which rogue military forces took control of warplanes, tanks, and helicopters, Erdogan accused Gulen of orchestrating the attempt to overthrow his government.
The coup resulted in the deaths of around 250 people, but Gulen consistently denied any involvement.
Gulen's movement, known as Hizmet, which translates to "service" in Turkish, aimed to promote a moderate interpretation of Islam, advocating for Western-style education, free markets, and dialogue among different faiths.
However, after the coup attempt, the Turkish government systematically dismantled his movement, leading to a decline in its influence both domestically and internationally.
Born in 1941 in a small village in Erzurum, Turkey, Gulen was the son of an imam and began studying the Quran at a young age.
He became a mosque imam in Edirne in 1959 and gained prominence as a preacher in the 1960s in Izmir, where he established student dormitories and engaged with the community in tea houses.
This grassroots approach laid the foundation for a vast network that grew over the decades, encompassing education, business, media, and government institutions, extending his influence beyond Turkey to Central Asia, the Balkans, Africa, and the West through a series of schools.