Fethullah Gulen, exiled Turkish cleric, dies at 83

Fethullah Gulen, an exiled Turkish cleric accused of orchestrating a failed coup in 2016, has died aged 83.
Mr Gulen died in hospital on Sunday and had been receiving medical treatment for some time, the Gulen movement said on social media on Monday. His doctors are set to make a statement soon, it added.
The cleric was accused by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of organising a failed coup that led to the deaths of at least 265 people, with about 2,200 injured. Mr Gulen, who had lived in self-imposed exile in the US since 1999, denied any involvement.
There was no immediate comment from the Turkish government about his death.
Mr Erdogan has for years accused Mr Gulen’s supporters of establishing a “parallel state” by infiltrating state institutions including the police and judiciary. Turkey has since 2016 arrested more than 80,000 people suspected of having links to the Gulen movement, proscribed as a terrorist organisation by Ankara, and has dismissed about 150,000 military personnel and public servants over alleged ties to the cleric.
Turkey had long sought Mr Gulen’s extradition from the US. In 2021, his nephew, Selahaddin, was kidnapped from Kenya and brought back to Turkey by intelligence agents, his family said.
Turkish state news agency Anadolu, quoting security sources, said he was brought back to Turkey by agents from the National Intelligence Organisation (MIT).