Fethullah Gulen, a cleric now living in the United States and accused by the Turkish government of orchestrating the failed coup attempt against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in 2016, died at the age of 83. The death of Gulen brings to light once again one of the most fundamental and contested events in modern Turkish history.
1. Who Was Fethullah Gulen?
Background Fethullah Gulen was one of Turkey’s most influential clerics and businessmen who was formerly a defender of Erdogan’s government. This movement, based on education and moderate Islam, developed influence within various sectors of Turkish society, especially the police, judiciary, and military.
Exile in the United States: Gulen moved to the U.S. in 1999, and he stayed in Pennsylvania in self-imposed exile. There has been coldness in the relations between Gulen and the Turkish government, and this worsened, especially after the corruption probes launched against Erdogan’s inner circle in 2013 whom Gulen’s followers were accused of igniting them.
Masterminding the Coup The Turkish government of Erdogan, after the failure of the attempt to coup in 2016, accused him of masterminding the coup plan to topple the government using his network of followers. Gulen has been on record that he had no affair with the coup, but all the accusations.
2. The Failed 2016 Coup
What happened on July 15, 2016? On the evening of July 15, 2016, a portion of the Turkish military staged a coup to overthrow President Erdogan’s government. It was perhaps one of the bloodiest coups in modern Turkish history and marked a turning point in Turkey’s political landscape.
Military Action and Chaos:
There are tanks roaming the streets of Istanbul, and gunmen have seized the headquarters of the ruling AK Party.
The Turkish Parliament was bombarded by fighter jets to symbolize the seriousness of the attempt.
Military Leaders Kidnapped
Hulusi Akar, Chief of General Staff, was kidnapped by his personal bodyguards; this makes him the third-ranking military officer to be kidnapped. This twist simply underlines that the coup attempt not only had opponents but also divisions in the military.
Public Opposition and Collapse of the Coup: Thousands of Turkish citizens rallied against the coup, and confrontations arose between the supportive police and military personnel of the ruling government and the coup planners. By morning July 16, the coup had failed. The clashes killed at least 251 and over 2,200 people were injured.
3. Legal Case Against Gulen and the Gulen Movement
Blaming Gulen for the Coup The Government immediately points the finger at Fethullah Gulen and his people, dubbing his movement the Fethullah Terrorist Organisation (FETO). Gulenists were accused of infiltrating state institutions to create a “parallel state” free from Erdogan’s rule.
Gulen Denial: Gulen denied any affiliation with the coup attempt at all times. According to him, the accusations were political. He hypothesized the concept as a stage coup to let Erdogan purify the opposition.
4. Turkish Government Perception of the Gulen Movement
Long-Standing Suspicion: Secular nationalists in Turkey had long been suspicious of the Gulen movement even before the coup. They likened the influence of the group to that of the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK), which they had long considered as a foe against their nationalist interests in Turkey.
Erdogan-Gulen Break in 2013 The relationship between Erdogan and Gulen had started to turn sour, finally bursting open after 2013 when probes initiated by key judicial figures of the Gulenist faction targeted alleged corruption within Erdogan’s government. This event marked the start of the onslaught on networks by Erdogan.
Widespread Opposition to Gulen: This hostilities by the year 2016 were shared between both the secular and conservative camps within Turkish society. FETO became a brand name not only for defining Gulen’s movement but also part of a larger program of delegitimization by the Turkish government that placed Gulen’s supporters on an even longer isolation chain.
5. Turkey’s Response to the Coup Attempt
State of Emergency: Following the failed coup, the government declared a state of emergency for two years. The government conducted mass purges, sweeping through nearly all sectors in Turkey.
Mass Arrests and Purges:
Arrests: Tens of thousands of people were arrested, from which military personnel, civil servants, academics, and journalists made it to the list of suspected Gulenists.
The Purges: More than 125,000 civil servants, judges, teachers, police officers were dismissed or suspended on charges of their connections to networks affiliated with Gulen. Many question the scale of the purge as an over-broad purge that seems also intent on targeting political rivals of Erdogan.
Criticism of the Government Action: On the one hand, some raise that purges are justified while others declare that the evidence it produced to point fingers at its culprits was flimsy. Critics argue that Erdogan used the chance of an attempted coup as a pretext to squash dissent and consolidate his regime.
6. Constitutional Changes and Power Consolidation
2017 Constitutional Referendum In 2017, Turkey finished a constitutional referendum wherein it changed its political system from parliamentary democracy to an executive presidential one. This reform centralized authority in the hands of the president by allowing Erdogan to have an enormous amount of power over the executive branch.
Elections Under the New System: Erdogan was re-elected under the new presidential system in 2018, thus further entrenching himself on Turkey’s political landscape. The date for the presidential elections has set in for the year 2023, where it will be one of the important examinations of Erdogan’s success to dominate Turkey’s political scene.
7. Demand by Turkey for Gulen’s Extradition
Extradition Requests: Since the failed coup attempt, Turkey has repeatedly asked the US for extradition of Gulen to face a trial in Turkey; however these requests have been pretty much ignored, and tension continues between Ankara and Washington.
Except for extradition requests, Turkey has also made demands to have institutions of Gulen-affiliated schools, businesses, and organizations closed down in other countries. Several governments in the Balkans and Africa have complied but those in most Western countries have been way more reluctant.
8. Challenges in meeting Turkey’s Demands
Political and Economic Might: Political and economic levers have been the decisive force for Turkey on whether to secure Gulen’s extradition or the closure of Gulenist institutions abroad. Where Turkey’s influence is largely limited, as with Western Europe and the United States, such demands remain largely unfulfilled.
Human Rights Issues Many Western governments have been hesitant to oblige with Turkey’s demands on the grounds of steadily growing human rights and rule of law under Erdogan’s strictly authoritarian rule. For this reason, Turkey has faced so much difficulties in its quest to remove Gulen’s influence from abroad.
9. Legacy of the Failed Coup Attempt
Polarization in Turkish Society: Failed Coup In Turkish Society, the failed coup left deep divisions intact. And so, Turkey is still polarized, in the sense that all its political currents are divided into Erdogan’s supporters and his opponents, even long after the coup. The once omnipotent movement of Gulen has lost much of its power, though. It has been weakened by these events.
The regime’s purges and constitutional changes have further declined democratic norms in Turkey, leading towards an authoritarian system of governance. The coup attempt in 2016 is an important moment in Turkish modern history, influencing both the politics internally and international relations significantly.
Conclusion
Fethullah Gulen’s death on January 6, 2023, came at the age of 83 to put an end to a controversial chapter in the history of the Turkish nation. Accused of masterminding the notorious 2016 coup attempt, Gulen spent his final years in exile in the United States, claiming he had nothing to do with the attempt, but Erdogan made an event turn into an opportunity to pulverize all opposition. Following the failed coup, purges, constitutional amendments, and heightened tensions between Turkey and its global partners became observable. The coup and the lingering ideas of Gulen will remain to be a thorn in the flesh of Turkey’s politics for many years.