US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen dead: Turkish TV

ISTANBUL: Turkish public television reported Monday that US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, who Ankara says masterminded a failed 2016 coup, has died.

Citing posts on X and social media by groups close to Gulen, they said the 83-year-old died in hospital overnight.

Gulen, who led a movement called Hizmet, was accused by Turkey of leading a “terrorist” group and being the brains behind an abortive coup to topple strongman Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s governmnt in 2016 -- accusations he had consistently denied.

Gulen had lived in Pennsylvania since 1999. He was stripped of his Turkish nationality in 2017.