Fethullah Gülen; Erdogan's Longtime Supporter Who Became His Number One Enemy

In the early 2000s, Fethullah Gülen and Recep Tayyip Erdogan were close allies in limiting the military's power in Turkey, but just a decade later, in July 2013 during the famous Gezi Park protests in Istanbul, Erdogan initiated a widespread purge of Gülen-affiliated forces, and their relationship deteriorated daily. The Gezi Park incident was related to the government's decision to expand the park area in Istanbul, but in protest of this decision, various social, political, and religious groups took to the streets against Erdogan, expressing their anger at authoritarianism and the conservative policies of the Justice and Development Party. Protesters demanded the separation of religion from politics, while Erdogan sought to consolidate his position in the political sphere by leveraging his supporters among the conservative Sunni religious class. These protests prompted Erdogan to begin his battle against what he termed the 'parallel state,' purging and arresting Gülen loyalists from various institutions such as the judiciary, police, businesses, civil society, and media; a McCarthy-like approach that led to many writers, journalists, and civil activists being dismissed or imprisoned on fabricated charges. Gülen's investments in creating foundations and training loyal followers date back decades. In the 1980s, during the premiership of Turgut Özal, Turkey's successful economist, and after years of repression of Islamist movements, a number of religious groups, including Gülen's movement, sought to address the needs of Islamist groups by establishing schools, publications, and charities under the title 'Hizmet' to promote religion through creating facilities for the most remote areas. The emergence of such schools was observed not only in Turkey but also in other Turkic-speaking countries such as Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and even in the North Caucasian republics of the Soviet Union; a trend that some in Turkey liken to the establishment of Protestant missionary schools in the 19th century. The 'Hizmet' movement extended education to the most remote areas abroad and even to the Balkans, including places like Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, and Macedonia. The establishment of such schools also strengthened economic ties between those regions and Turkey. Gülen's creation of such a vast network led to the spread of his model of Islam in many Muslim countries and even in areas where Islam had roots. At the same time, he sought to attract dormant capacities for the spread of Islam through the development of 'Hizmet' to the people, which his followers called 'modern Islam.' This occurred in a context where Turkey had experienced several coups against Islamists, and efforts were made to protect the principles of Atatürk's legacy. However, unlike the Muslim Brotherhood, Gülen was not in favor of direct intervention in politics and believed that religion should have a presence in the cultural and social lives of individuals. Gülen even criticized and opposed Shiite Islam in Iran and the Islamic Republic. Over time, Erdogan, who had previously been sidelined during the postmodern coup of 1997, grew closer to the Gülen movement. Erdogan had previously been one of the forces in Turkey heavily influenced by the ideas of Necmettin Erbakan, a Turkish Islamist politician in the late 1990s. While Erbakan's Islamist forces and the Welfare Party were marginalized and under pressure, Gülen's 'Hizmet' supported these forces; however, the two movements had differing views on the role of religion in politics. The relationship between the two ultimately led to Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the former mayor of Istanbul, achieving victory in the 2002 parliamentary elections with the Justice and Development Party, although due to a legal conviction, he could not be introduced as prime minister that year, and a year later, his ally in the party, Abdullah Gul, held that position. However, in 2003, with Erdogan coming to power, he has continuously held the position of prime minister and president for over 20 years. In the first decade of Erdogan's rule, the relationship between him and Gülen's 'Hizmet' movement, which had significant influence and dominance in various institutions, remained close; however, fundamental differences in their ideological foundations gradually caused them to drift apart. Erdogan sought to promote his moderate Islam model as a new form of state Islamism in the world, presenting it as a substitute for extremist Islamist models in the Sunni community and also for Shiite governments like the Islamic Republic. Erdogan, aware of the dormant capacities in Anatolia for maintaining his power, sought to present himself as a moderate and modern Islamic leader. In contrast, Gülen, unlike Erbakan's thinking, avoided direct political involvement and believed that religion should be present in the cultural and social lives of individuals. Gülen emphasized more on mysticism than tradition in promoting Islam and invited his followers to dialogue, education, knowledge, and conversation. He also sought to integrate Islamic values with modernity and social development by creating centers and institutions such as schools, universities, and charities. Erdogan was concerned that the shared capacity among Islamists in the country could ultimately turn against him and in favor of Fethullah Gülen. In fact, the authoritarian Turkish politician knew that he and Gülen shared a relatively common supporter base that could be categorized as Islamists. For this reason, after promoting and consolidating his desired model of Islamic governance, he sought to eliminate Fethullah Gülen and his affiliated movements. The differing orientations of Erdogan and Gülen ultimately led the Turkish president to view this former cleric as his enemy and, after the failed coup of 2016, to accuse Gülen of orchestrating the event. Following this, Erdogan arrested and imprisoned many individuals in various institutions on charges of having relations with Gülen's organizations and being involved in the failed coup, while the elderly cleric in Pennsylvania, USA, denied any role or influence in the coup. Since 2016, Erdogan had made requests for Gülen's extradition to Turkey to three different U.S. presidents: Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and Joe Biden, but none agreed to send this elderly man, who had gone to the U.S. for medical treatment, back to Turkey. Ultimately, Gülen passed away on October 20 in a hospital in the U.S. at the age of 83.