Erdoğan Pledges Global Hunt for Gülen Followers After Preacher's Death: 'No Corner of the World Is Safe'
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, however, promised to track followers of the late Fethullah Gulen "to the remotest corner of the world." Gulen, Turkey's so-called actual mastermind behind the 2016 failed coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, died in the United States Sunday at 83.
In his televised address, Erdoğan said, "Those traitors managed to escape Turkish justice thanks to those who protected them. They left without being held accountable for the martyrs' blood they shed. But they will not be able to escape divine justice." That is actually the first public statement Erdoğan has made since the death of Gülen, who had been in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since 1999.
The Turkish president said that his country would never forget the civilians it lost during the 2016 coup attempt. He condemned "notorious members of FETO," an acronym the Turkish government has used for the "Fethullah Terrorist Organization," which it maintains Gülen founded to infiltrate Turkish institutions.
WHETHER in Turkey or the farthest corners of the world, they will be on the back of the FETO hyena pack, Erdogan said, announcing his intent to pursue Gülen supporters worldwide.
Ankara hasn't become weary of its pursuit against alleged GÜLEN supporters, particularly in Balkan countries, where suspects were dealt an extra judicial blow by being deported back to their motherland. The abduction controversy of GÜLEN affiliates in Kosovo back in 2018 led to a mass resignation in Kosovo's government officials.
From Friends to Foes
Once upon a time, the relation of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan with cleric Fethullah Gülen was one of political cooperation. Already in the 1970s, Gülen founded Hizmet, a movement for social services in Turkey, and was perfectly in line with Erdoğan's Islamist Justice and Development Party, which came to power in 2002. Gülen's followers rose through the ranks of Turkey's institutions and first helped strengthen Erdoğan's position on the international scene.\
