Date posted: July 17, 2016

Fethullah Gulen, the Turkish cleric whom President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey has accused of inspiring the coup attempt against his government, gave a rare interview on Saturday at his compound here in which he denied involvement in the coup, but compared Mr. Erdogan’s administration to that of the Nazi SS.

“My message to the Turkish people is never to view any military intervention positively,” Mr. Gulen said, speaking to reporters through an interpreter, “because through military intervention, democracy cannot be achieved.”

While decrying the coup attempt, Mr. Gulen also acknowledged that he could not rule out involvement by his followers, saying he is unsure who his followers are in Turkey.

The leader of a Turkish Muslim sect, Mr. Gulen and his followers have built a global religious, social and nationalistic movement, and are also considered to be the driving force behind more than 100 charter schools in the United States.

At the core of his movement, promoted as a peace-loving form of Islam, is the concept of Hizmet, which his followers describe as a type of public service.

After a brief return to Turkey following a stay at the Mayo Clinic, Mr. Gulen has lived in self-imposed exile in the United States since the late 1990s. At the time, he was accused of attempting to promote an Islamic state in Turkey, but was ultimately cleared of those charges. At one point, though, the United States government tried unsuccessfully to have Mr. Gulen deported because it said his visa had been improperly granted. A federal judge in Pennsylvania blocked that move.

In a televised speech on Saturday, President Erdogan said the United States should extradite Mr. Gulen to Turkey; Secretary of State John Kerry said earlier in the day that he would review any extradition requests for Mr. Gulen.

“Obviously, we would invite the government of Turkey, as we always do, to present us with any legitimate evidence that withstands scrutiny,” Mr. Kerry said during a visit to Luxembourg. “And the United States will accept that and look at it and make judgments about it appropriately.”

At his meeting with reporters, Mr. Gulen said neither he nor any of his aides had been contacted by federal authorities.

Source: New York Times , July 16, 2016

Tags: Defamation of Hizmet | Fethullah Gulen | Interviews with Fethullah Gulen | Military coups in Turkey |