Türkiye coup: The mystery behind the name Gulen

(Baonghean.vn) - According to the Turkish government's statement, the mastermind behind the July 15 coup was a Turkish cleric residing in the US, Mr. Fethullah Gulen. Ankara has sent a request to the US government to extradite Gulen to Turkey.

Cleric Fethullah Gulen. Photo: Reuters

Upon learning of this news, Fethullah Gulen denied his involvement as well as the "Gulen Movement" in the coup, while the US side is studying the documents sent by the Turkish Government.

However, the situation may become more complicated when there are opinions that Gulen is not simply an independent activist in his opposition to the government. Mr. Lawrence Wilkerson, former Chief of Staff of the US State Department under Secretary of State Colin Powell, boldly raised questions about the relationship between Gulen and the current Director of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) John Brennan.

The origin of Fethullah Gulen

Fethullah Gulen is a famous preacher in Türkiye. At his peak in 1977, his mosque in Istanbul hosted Prime Minister Suleyman Demirel and Foreign Minister Ihsan Chalangil.

In 1978, future Turkish president Turgut Ozal personally came to hear Fethullah Gulen preach in the city of Izmir. After the 1980 military coup in Türkiye, Fethullah Gulen temporarily left his preaching work for 6 years. In 1986, Fethullah Gulen was arrested for violating the ban on going out when he visited the Mecca Holy City.

In 1999, accused of “calling for the establishment of an Islamic regime in Türkiye” and being hunted down, Fethullah Gulen sought asylum in the US. To gain political asylum and settle in the US, Fethullah Gulen received sponsorship from many US officials, among whom were three notable names: George Phidias, Morton Abramovitz - former US Ambassador to Türkiye and Graham Fuller.

George Phidias served 31 years in the CIA, serving as Deputy Director of the CIA. After leaving the CIA, he moved to work at the Military Intelligence School of the US Department of Defense.

Morton Abramovitz also had close ties to the CIA. In 1989, US President Bush appointed Morton Abramovitz as US Ambassador to Türkiye.

Graham Fuller was also a CIA officer. Since the 1980s, he had participated in the campaign to organize terrorist forces against the Soviet Army in Afghanistan.

In 1986, Graham Fuller was appointed Vice Chairman of the National Intelligence Council under the CIA. In 1988, when the war in Afghanistan ended, Graham Fuller left the CIA and moved to work at the RAND Corporation - which has close ties with the US State Department, CIA, US Federal Bureau of Investigation, the President's Office and the Pentagon.

What is the Gulen movement?

According to official information, we know that the "Gulen Movement" was founded by Fethullah Gulen, and it is also known by another name, the "Gulen Empire". According to estimates by investigative agencies in the US, the assets of the "Gulen Empire" are about 50 billion USD. Currently, the number of projects funded by the "Gulen Movement" has reached thousands, including over 2,000 schools, 7 universities in 9 countries on 5 continents and 2 modern hospitals.

People stand in front of tanks of the coup army. Photo: AP

The Gulen movement has built a network of Islamic schools, commercial enterprises, banks and other funds funded by countless different financial sources around the world that no one can control. Fethullah Gulen once declared: "Our mission is to build and develop the Islamic worldview."

In Türkiye, the Gulen Movement, also known as “Hizmet,” has a network of 85,000 mosques, more than 90,000 active clerics, thousands of Islamic high schools, and some 4,000 official state programs teaching the Quran.

The Gulen movement in Türkiye has a huge influence and penetrates all areas of social life, from politics, legislation, security, military, culture, education, health. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan calls this organization a "Parallel State", meaning that this political movement has a tremendous influence on Türkiye's politics and security.

Known as a tough leader with a firm grip on power - even over the military, it is not difficult to understand why Mr. Erdogan has been so aggressive in "reforming" the political, economic, security, cultural, and health systems after the failed coup. Regardless of the force behind the coup, one thing is certain: this event has unintentionally created a very favorable opportunity for Mr. Erdogan to remove the "thorn in his side".

The US has yet to respond to the request to extradite cleric Gulen. Any move towards Türkiye now will force the US to clearly express its views and choices. After all, could cleric Gulen be just a small pawn on the chessboard?

Colonel Le The Mau