If Trump gets in he might do the same thing here by the way by disbanding the Supreme Court and Congress like Erdogan is now doing to Turkey. It makes sense that he would cause the bombing of the parliament by the way as a way to end parliament and all people in it during his staged coup.
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Coup roots in Pennsylvania?
Who is Fethullah Gulen, the man blamed for coup attempt in Turkey?
Story highlights
- Erdogan calls on U.S. to extradite or arrest Fethullah Gulen
- Gulen denies involvement, says it's possible coup was "staged"
(CNN)Was
a plan to overthrow Turkey's government really hatched behind a gated
compound in a small, leafy Pennsylvania town, or is that merely a smoke
screen?
In the throes of a
military coup attempt, Turkey's embattled president, Recep Tayyip
Erdogan, pointed the finger of blame squarely at his bitter rival:
Fethullah Gulen.
At
the center of this rivalry, a fundamental division in Turkish society
between secularists -- some within the country's top military brass --
and Islamists, including Erdogan's AKP party.
It's this division that's destabilizing one of America's most important allies in the Middle East.
And at the center of all this is Gulen, a reclusive cleric who leads a popular movement called Hizmet.
Who is this mysterious man in Pennsylvania?
The
75-year old imam went into self-imposed exile when he moved from Turkey
to the United States in 1999 and settled in Saylorsburg, Pennsyvlania.
In this 2013 file photo, Turkish Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen is pictured at his residence in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania.
He rarely speaks to journalists and has turned down interview requests from CNN for more than four years.
Supporters describe Gulen as a moderate Muslim cleric who champions interfaith dialogue. Promotional videos
show him meeting with Pope John Paul II in the Vatican in the 1990s. He
also met frequently with rabbis and Christian priests in Turkey.
Gulen has a loyal following -- known as Gulenists -- in Turkey, who all subscribe to the Hizmet movement.
Hizmet
is a global initiative inspired by Gulen, who espouses what The New
York Times has described as "a moderate, pro-Western brand of Sunni
Islam that appeals to many well-educated and professional Turks."
Nongovernmental organizations founded by the Hizmet movement, including
hundreds of secular co-ed schools, free tutoring centers, hospitals and
relief agencies, are credited with addressing many of Turkey's social
problems.
The preacher and his
movement also spawned a global network of schools and universities that
operate in more than 100 countries.
In the United States, this academic empire includes Harmony Public Schools, the largest charter school network in Texas.
Within
Turkey, volunteers in the Gulen movement also own TV stations, the
largest-circulation newspaper, gold mines and at least one Turkish bank.
Gulen: A coup architect or a scapegoat?
As a wave of violence washed over Turkey on Friday night, leaving at least 161 people dead,
a defiant Erdogan addressed his country, saying the coup had been
quashed and demanding punishment for the man he deems responsible.
"I call on the United States and President Barack Obama. Dear Mr.
President, I told you this before. Either arrest Fethullah Gulen or
return him to Turkey. You didn't listen. I call on you again, after
there was a coup attempt. Extradite this man in Pennsylvania to Turkey!
If we are strategic partners or model partners, do what is necessary,"
Erdogan said.
Soldiers involved in the coup attempt surrender on Bosphorus bridge with their hands raised on July 16, 2016
In a statement, Gulen denied any connection to the coup attempt and even suggested the whole thing may have been staged.
"I do not say this is the case, only that it could be the case," he said.
"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. I categorically deny such accusations," Gulen said.
His
supporters from the Alliance for Shared Values on Developments in
Turkey also denied Gulen's involvement in a statement released on
Friday.
"For more than 40 years,
Fethullah Gulen and Hizmet participants have advocated for, and
demonstrated their commitment to, peace and democracy. We condemn any
military intervention in domestic politics of Turkey. Comments by
pro-Erdogan circles about the movement are highly irresponsible," the
group said.
Not the first coup accusation
The Turkish government also accused Gulen's supporters of spearheading an unsuccessful coup attempt in Turkey in January 2014.
Mysterious preacher behind previous Turkish coups? 03:30
Erdogan, a religious conservative, has compared Gulen and his supporters to a virus and a medieval cult of assassins.
In
an interview with CNN at the time, a top official from Erdogan's ruling
AKP party called the Gulen movement a "fifth column" that had
infiltrated the Turkish police force and judiciary.
"We
are confronted by a structure that doesn't take orders from within the
chain of command of the state," parliament member and deputy AKP
chairman Mahir Unal told CNN. "Rather, it takes orders from outside the
state."
During the 2014 skirmish,
in a rare email interview published in The Wall Street Journal, Gulen
denied any involvement in a political conspiracy.
"We will never be a part of any plot against those who are governing our country," he wrote.
Gulen and Erdogan: fierce adversaries
The
rivalry seen today has not always existed. In fact, throughout much of
the last decade, the Gulen movement was also a strong Erdogan supporter.
Pro-Gulen
media outlets backed sprawling investigations of alleged coup plots
organized by Turkish military commanders. Dozens of military officers,
as well as secular writers, academics and businessmen, waited for years
in prison for trials that critics called witch hunts.
At that time, it also became increasingly dangerous to criticize the Gulen movement.
Police
arrested and imprisoned writer Ahmet Sik for more than a year, accusing
him of supporting a terrorist organization. A court banned his book
"The Imam's Army," which took a critical look at the Gulen movement,
before it was even published.
Now
out of prison, Sik said the longstanding alliance between Turkey's two
most prominent Islamic leaders -- Erdogan and Gulen -- had collapsed
into a bitter power struggle.
"There
was a forced marriage, and the fight that began with who would lead the
family is continuing as an ugly divorce," Sik said.
"On
the one side, there is the Gulen community, a dark and opaque power
that can damage the most powerful administration in Turkish history.
And on the other side, you have an administration that under the guise
of fighting this community can and has suspended all legal and
democratic principles," he said.
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