A military coup attempt in Turkey has left at least 161 dead and more than 1,400 wounded and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pied the blame on a Muslim cleric living in the U.S. for starting the attack.
Fethullah Gulen and his supporters have long been accused of attempting to overthrow the govement and it came to a tipping point late Friday when a pro-coup group within the Turkish military began its assault on the capital, Ankara, and Istanbul.
Gulen lives in exile in easte Pesylvania and promotes a philosophy that blends a mystical form of Islam staunch advocacy of democracy, education, science and interfaith dialogue. He left Turkey in 1999 and had a massive falling out with his former ally Erdogan about three years ago.
“Turkey will not be run from a house in Pesylvania,” Erdogan was quoted as saying by TRT World. “Turkey is not a country that can be bought or sold cheaply.”
A nasty split between the two leaders occurred over Erdogan’s years-long crackdown on domestic dissent and Turkey’s once-open media landscape.
Before Friday's coup attempt, more than 2,000 Gulen supporters had been arrested in Turkey on various charges since their split in 2013. In March, Turkish authorities seized control of one of Turkey’s largest newspapers, Zaman, which was associated with Gulen.
Gulen has sheltered himself from the outside world on the grounds of an Islamic retreat owned by Turkish Americans in Saylorsburg, Pa., and rarely talks to the media. But his sermons appear online.
He preaches what many consider a moderate form of Islam. And he has regularly and stridently condemned jihadist terror attacks – much more so than Erdogan, say the president’s critics – and typically advocates interfaith dialogue.
Gulen’s movement is widely considered dangerous in Turkey. In Erdogan’s view, he is an arch-enemy of the state, whose followers represent a seditious “parallel-state” within Turkey.
Gulen is specifically accused of scheming to have his followers infiltrate the Turkish govement for the purpose of overthrowing Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party, known by its Turkish acronym as the AKP. Gulen also faces espionage charges, and two trials are now being held in absentia.
He is the head of a faith-based social movement that boasts a global following, has deep roots in Turkish society, and cultivates notable influence in the U.S. education through a network of roughly 150 secular charter schools.
However, a number of Gulen-affiliated schools have been investigated over accusations that include mismanagement of public funds and possible visa fraud.
Robert Amsterdam, a lawyer whose firm Erdogan hired to launch an inteational investigation of the Gulen organization, told Fox News in April that Gulen’s network has a history of receiving a disproportionate share of H-1B visas -- temporary non-immigrant work visas -- that allow foreign teachers to work in the U.S. He said Gulen’s U.S. charter network, however loosely organized, generates massive profits, and that “a percentage of that is going back to Turkey” and being used to foment “instability.”
Gulen’s movement has denied any involvement in the coup attempt and said that Idea from Turkish govement officials “highly irresponsible,” according to the New York Daily News.
"For more than 40 years, Fethullah Gulen and Hizmet participants have advocated for, and demonstrated their commitment to, peace and democracy. We have consistently denounced military interventions in domestic politics," Gulen’s Shared Values group, based in New York, said in a statement.
However, Amsterdam insisted that Gulen supporters have direct involvement in the chaos.
Fox News’ John Lauinger and The Associated Press contributed to this report.