SAYLORSBURG, Pa. — Fethullah Gulen, 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 Gulen’s work in the United States, said Gulen 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 Gulen, who was in his 80s and had long been in ill health, died of natural causes.
The group called him a “towering figure of faith, wisdom, intellectual and spiritual leadership” whose “impact will be felt for generations.”
Gulen had not played an active role in his movement in recent years. A group of close friends who have advised him for decades will carry on the work, according to the Alliance for Shared Values.
The religious leader began as an ally of Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan but became a foe. He called Erdogan an authoritarian bent on accumulating power and crushing dissent. Erdogan cast Gulen as a terrorist, accusing him of orchestrating the attempted military coup on July 15, 2016, when factions within the military used tanks, warplanes and helicopters to try to overthrow the government.
Gulen’s acolytes built a loosely affiliated global network of charitable foundations, professional associations, businesses and schools in more than 100 countries, including 150 taxpayer-funded charter schools throughout the U.S. In Turkey, supporters ran universities, hospitals, charities, a bank and a large media empire with newspapers and radio and TV stations.
The network of schools includes the Little Scholars of Arkansas, or LISA Academy, which has grown over the years to have 13 schools across the state since its founding in 2004.
Information for this article was contributed by Suzan Fraser of The Associated Press.
FILE – Turkish Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen meets members of the media at his compound in Saylorsburg, Pa. in July 2016. (AP Photo/Chris Post, File)
FILE – Turkish Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen meets members of the media at his compound in Saylorsburg, Pa. in July 2016. (AP Photo/Chris Post, File)
FILE – Turkish Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen meets members of the media at his compound in Saylorsburg, Pa. in July 2016. (AP Photo/Chris Post, File)