Erdogan using coup as cover for dictatorship, warns cleric

FETHULLAH GULEN, the cleric blamed by Turkey’s president for an attempted coup, has accused Recep Tayyip Erdogan of turning “from democracy to despotism” and urged the US to block his extradition.

Mr Gulen, who has been in self-imposed exile in America since 1999, claimed that he would not be given a fair trial if he is returned to Turkey.

Writing in The New York Times, he again denied involvement in the foiled putsch, saying he had been made a scapegoat by President Erdogan, his former friend. Mr Gulen, 75, insisted that his Muslim Hizmet philosophy is “inclusive and pluralist Islam” that rejects the idea of armed rebellion.

He said that if followers in his extensive network had joined in the attempted takeover they had betrayed his ideals. Turkish authorities have reacted in the last week with mass purges of the police, armed forces, judiciary and education system, accusing thousands of being followers of Mr Gulen.

As the president seeks to purge more dissenters – nearly 70,000 people have been fired so far – he is “removing many of the remaining impediments to absolute power”, Mr Gulen wrote. He added that the crackdown was a “systematic and dangerous drive toward one-man rule”.

World leaders, including from the US and the EU, fear President Erdogan is using the revolt by parts of the armed forces as a cover for an indiscriminate purge of his opponents. Two Turkish Nato generals serving in Afghanistan and a former Istanbul governor were detained yesterday.

Mr Gulen accused Turkey of “blackmailing” the US by threatening to curb its vital support for the international coalition against Islamic State terrorists. “The temptation to give Mr Erdogan whatever he wants is understandable. But the United States must resist it,” Mr Gulen wrote.

“For the sake of worldwide efforts to restore peace in turbulent times, as well as to safeguard the future of democracy in the Middle East, the US must not accommodate an autocrat who is turning a failed putsch into a slow-motion coup of his own against constitutional government,” he said.

A poll released yesterday found that almost two-thirds of Turks believe the Pennsylvania-based cleric was behind the failed July 15 coup, backing the government line.