The US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, who built a powerful Islamic movement in Turkey and beyond but spent his later years mired in accusations of orchestrating an attempted coup against Turkish leader Tayyip Erdoğan, has died. Since the failed coup, his movement has been systematically dismantled in Turkey and its international influence has declined. Known to his supporters as Hodjaefendi, or respected teacher, Gulen was born in a village in the eastern Turkish province of Erzurum in 1941. Soon after the 2016 coup, Erdogan described Gulen's network as traitors and "like a cancer", vowing to root them out wherever they are. The government said its actions were justified by the gravity of the threat posed to the state by the coup.

Source: Daily Nation October 21, 2024 15:58 UTC