Muhammed Fethullah Gülen is a Turkish preacher, imam, writer, and political figure. He is the founder of the Gülen movement , which is 3 to 6 million strong volunteer based movement mostly focused on the education, interfaith dialogue providing primary and secondary education, in Turkey and in Africa, Central Asia, the Americas, and Europe. Hizmet's most populous organization is a moderate Islamic advocacy group, Alliance for Shared Values. Gulen lives in exile in the United States, residing in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania.Gülen is actively involved in the societal debate concerning the future of the Turkish state, and Islam in the modern world. He has been described in the English-language media as an imam "who promotes a tolerant Islam which emphasises altruism, hard work and education" and as "one of the world's most important Muslim figures." However, James Jeffrey, former American ambassador in Ankara, has claimed that the Gülen movement, aside from its "legal and visible" activities, had infiltrated the Turkish armed forces, police and judiciary.The Gülen movement has been characterized as a civil society group promoting education, religious tolerance, and building social networks. Having shared a major goal of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of empowering religious individuals in civil life officially disenfranchised under then existing law in secular Turkey, Gulen and his movement were aligned with Erdoğan prior to 2013. The alliance was destroyed after the 2013 corruption investigations in Turkey. Erdoğan accused Gülen of being behind the corruption investigations. A Turkish criminal court issued an arrest warrant for Gülen. Turkey is demanding the extradition of Gülen from the United States. However, U.S. figures in general do not believe he is associated with any terrorist activity, and have requested evidence to be provided by the Turkish Government to substantiate the allegations in the warrant requesting extradition.He was accused of being against the peace process which had aimed to resolve the long-running Kurdish-Turkish conflict. However, Gülen's supporters dismiss this claim, citing his work with many Kurds.
✵ 27. April 1941
