Erdogan's arch-enemy dies in exile in the US Fethullah Gülen is dead

The spiritual leader of the Gülen movement has died in exile in the US, according to media reports: Fetullah Gülen galtz as the arch-enemy of Turkish President Rccep Tayyib Erdogan. He was 83 years old.

The alleged mastermind of the attempted coup in Turkey in 2016, Fethullah Gülen, is dead. The 83-year-old cleric died yesterday evening in a hospital in the US state of Pennsylvania, explained the chairman of the Dialogue and Education Foundation, Ercan Karakoyun.

The foundation is the German branch of the transnational Gülen movement, which runs schools, tutoring centers and kindergartens in Germany, among other things. According to the foundation, Gülen was an influential Muslim scholar whose vision provided the impetus for the global Hizmet movement.

The aim of the movement is to win Muslims over to a pious way of life through educational institutions, media and association work. It will continue to exist in the future, it added. According to the movement, Gülen had been in poor health for several years.

Turkish media had previously reported on the death of the Islamic preacher. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan also confirmed the death. "The leader of this dark organization has died," said Fidan in Ankara.

Gülen is public enemy number one for Erdogan

The government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan considered Gülen to be public enemy number one. Erdogan considers him to be the mastermind behind the 2016 coup attempt in Turkey and has repeatedly called for his extradition.

Gülen, who was allied with Erdogan until his public break in 2013, had always denied his involvement. He had lived in the US state of Pennsylvania since 1999. On July 15, 2016, parts of the military in Turkey staged a coup against President Erdogan's government.

There were heavy clashes between coup soldiers and pro-government security forces in Istanbul and the capital Ankara. The uprising was finally crushed. More than 250 people died and more than 2,000 were injured.

Under the state of emergency that Erdogan subsequently declared, which only ended in July 2018, the government took action against suspected coup plotters and supporters of Gülen's movement, but also against opposition members. More than 100,000 civil servants were dismissed by decree and tens of thousands of people were arrested. In Turkey, the Gülen movement is classified as a terrorist organization.