A reclusive Muslim cleric who lives in exile in Pennsylvania is now under an international spotlight after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan publicly demanded Saturday that the U.S. extradite the imam for allegedly being behind an attempted coup that sought to remove Erdogan from power.
The imam, Fethullah Gulen, a former ally of Erdogan's, disputed the notion that he was involved in the attempted overthrow of Turkey's president on Friday night.
"I condemn, in the strongest terms, the attempted military coup in Turkey," he said. "Government should be won through a process of free and fair elections, not force. ... As someone who suffered under multiple military coups during the past five decades, it is especially insulting to be accused of having any link to such an attempt."
"You can think about many motivations of people who staged this coup. They could be sympathizers of the opposition party. They could be sympathizers of the nationalist party. It could be anything," Gulen, who left Turkey in 1999, said through an interpreter.
Gulen and Erdogan were once political allies before falling out over corruption allegations leveled at the Turkish president. Since then, Erdogan has frequently accused the Muslim cleric of trying to overthrow the government. Today he criticized Erdogan for what he called the government's "repression and persecution" of Gulen's followers in Turkey.
"It appears that they have no tolerance for any movement, any group, any organization that is not under their total control," Gulen said.
Gulen is believed to have support among some members of the Turkish military. His movement, called Hizmet, which means "service", includes think tanks, various media enterprises and schools in many countries, including charter schools in the U.S.
Gulen, in his mid 70s, came to the U.S. in the late 1990s. He and Erdogan were formerly allies but became estranged in recent years.
