SAYLORSBURG, Pa. (AP) — Fethullah Gülen, a reclusive U.S.-based Islamic cleric who inspired a global social movement while facing accusations he masterminded a failed 2016 coup in his native Turkey, has died.
Abdullah Bozkurt, the former editor of the Gülen-linked Today’s Zaman newspaper, who is now in exile in Sweden, said Monday he spoke to Gülen’s nephew, Kemal Gülen, who confirmed the death. Fethullah Gülen was in his eighties and had long been in ill health.
The Alliance for Shared Values, a New York-based group that promotes Gulen’s work in the U.S., confirmed his death on X and its website “with sorrowful hearts and humble acceptance of Allah’s will.” It did not provide details. Monroe County Coroner Thomas A Yanac Jr. said he was informed by St. Luke’s Hospital-Monroe that Gülen died of natural causes.
Gülen spent the last decades of his life in self-exile, living in a gated compound in Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains and wielding influence among his millions of followers. He espoused a philosophy that blended Sufism — a mystical form of Islam — with staunch advocacy of democracy, education, science and interfaith dialogue.