Fethullah Gülen, a reclusive U.S.-based Islamic cleric who inspired a global social movement while facing unproven accusations that he masterminded a failed 2016 coup in his native Turkey, has died.
The Alliance for Shared Values, a New York-based group that promotes Gülen’s work in the U.S., said that Gülen died Sunday night at a hospital near his home in Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains. Monroe County Coroner Thomas Yanac Jr. said he was informed that Gülen, who was in his eighties and had long been in ill health, died of natural causes...
In Turkey, Gülen’s movement — sometimes known as Hizmet, Turkish for “service” — has been subjected to a broad crackdown. The government arrested tens of thousands of people for their alleged link to the coup plot, sacked more than 130,000 suspected supporters from civil service jobs and more than 23,000 from the military, and closed hundreds of businesses, schools and media organizations tied to Gülen.