Fethullah Gülen, the alleged mastermind of the 2016 coup in Turkey, has died at the age of 83

Fethullah Gülen, Turkish religious leader and founder of the Gülen Movement, died in the US state of Pennsylvania on Sunday evening at the age of 83.

The Turkish government blamed Gülen and his movement for orchestrating a failed military coup in July 2016 that left hundreds of Turks dead.

The movement itself denies its involvement in the attempt to overthrow the Turkish government, but its role in the attempted coup is recognized in Turkish society and even among opponents of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

The official Hercul website, which publishes announcements about Gülen’s activities, reported that the religious leader died in a hospital where he was being treated for chronic diseases.

A detailed report on his health and funeral information will be published later, it added.

Gülen’s death symbolizes the end of an era in Turkish politics.

Born in 1941, Gülen established himself as an imam in Turkey in the 1970s and eventually created a well-organized religious movement to spread his beliefs.

The movement has spread throughout the world through a network of Turkish schools in more than 100 countries.

Functioning as an organization built around the figure of Gülen, the movement claimed to follow the teachings of the late Islamic cleric and Sufi Said Nursi.

Gülen turned the group into a full-fledged political movement whose followers practiced a kind of “entrigism” in which they actively recruited people and placed them in key government institutions such as the police, the judiciary and the army.

Original Alliance

At the initial stage, the policies of the Gülen movement coincided with the main religious conservative movement led by the current Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Conservatives have welcomed efforts to make the army and judiciary less hostile to religious groups, as these institutions have played a critical role in suppressing the role of Islam in politics throughout Turkey’s modern history.

In this atmosphere of repression, Gülen moved to the United States in 1999, citing health reasons, and never returned to Turkey.

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From its US base, the Gülen movement has created schools, a media conglomerate with magazines, newspapers and television channels, and business alliances.

Networks of dormitories and student houses operating under the Gülen banner were used as a recruiting ground for the movement.

Well-educated or talented potential members were selected and their identities were disguised or downplayed in order to easily enter government service.

When Erdogan took office as prime minister in 2003, Gülen already had a large network of followers within a state previously dominated by Turkish nationalists, secularists and others.

Erdogan has allied with Gulen over the years to increase his influence over the police and judiciary and undermine the military’s influence over politics.

The alliance succeeded in achieving constitutional changes in 2010, and individuals associated with Gülen dominated senior judicial positions.

This was followed by charges against top generals and other powerful figures in the state, who were accused of plotting to overthrow Erdogan, further reducing the role of the military in Turkish politics.

Break with Erdogan

Erdogan’s first contact with Gülen came during Israel’s attack on the Gaza flotilla in 2010, when nine Turkish citizens were killed by Israeli soldiers aboard the Mavi Marmara, which was attempting to break a blockade of Gazans.

Gülen criticized the flotilla as too risky and criticized the government for allowing the vessel to go to sea.

Another sore point was the 2013 peace process between the Turkish government and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which Gülen opposed.

Tensions mounted during the Gezi Park protests in 2013, when Gülen decided to take a position of neutrality as anti-government protesters staged the worst civil unrest against AKP rule since it came to power in 2002.

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The latest breakthrough was the corruption investigation into three ministers in Erodgan’s government in December 2013.

Erdogan accused Gülen and his movement of trying to use his men in the judiciary and police to overthrow his government through trumped-up charges.

After Erdoğan won local elections a few months after the investigation, he began campaigning against the Gülen movement, removing individuals associated with the group from government service and also labeling them terrorists.

The government also targeted Gülen-linked companies, media outlets, and schools.

That repression intensified after a 2016 coup attempt, after which widespread purges led to the sacking and arrest of tens of thousands of civil servants and other public servants through emergency powers.

Gulen’s presence in the US has also become a point of tension with Washington, which was slow to condemn the coup attempt.

Ankara’s official demand to the United States to return the cleric to Turkey was repeatedly ignored by the Americans, and Washington insisted that there was insufficient evidence of Gülen’s involvement in the plot.

For its part, the Gulen Movement, which operates more than 100 charter schools in the US, has created lobbying groups to pressure Congress over alleged human rights abuses taking place in Turkey.

However, the group itself is marred by schism. Gülen’s nephew, Ebuseleme Gülen, earlier this year accused the movement’s leadership of knowing about and approving the 2016 coup attempt by allowing people close to Gülen to participate in the uprising while misleading Gülen about their involvement.

Turkish sources familiar with the matter told media on Monday that there would be a leadership crisis within the movement after Gulen’s death.

Sources said Cevdet Turkelu, one of Gülen’s aides in Pennsylvania, and Abdullah Aymaz, the group’s current leader in Europe, are expected to vie for the top job in the coming days.