Erdoğan’s arch enemy Fethullah Gülen dies, reports say
The Turkish president accused the cleric of orchestrating a failed 2016 coup.
Influential Islamic cleric Fethullah Gülen, a key foe of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, died in the U.S. after a long illness at the age of 83, according to multiple media reports.
Erdoğan accused Gülen, a one-time ally of the Turkish president, of instigating a failed 2016 coup, which led to a broad crackdown on civil rights and a purge of the regime’s opponents and critics. Gülen denied he was involved in the attempt to overthrow Erdoğan.
Gülen had been living in self-imposed exile in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania since 1999. Erdoğan had repeatedly called on Washington to extradite the cleric to Turkey, accusing the United States of harboring a terrorist.
This story is being updated.
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