The world leader who was nicknamed “the great asparagus” is Fethullah Gülen. He is in exile from what country?
To be clear, the world leader who was nicknamed “the great asparagus” is Fethullah Gülen and he is in exile from Turkey.
Who is Fethullah Gülen?
Fethullah Gülen is an Islamic preacher, writer and activist. He was born in 1941 in Turkey. His father was a village Imam. Gülen went to school and the Turkish military, but did not finish university. He came to the United States in 1998 to avoid being charged with conspiracy for trying to overthrow the secular government of Turkey. He has been living in a small town in Pennsylvania ever since and has supporters all over the world, including Turkey, Russia, Bosnia and China. His followers go by the name of Fethullahçular.
He is accused of masterminding a failed coup against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in July 2016, which has left more than 200 people dead. Gülen is also the founder of the Foundation for Science, Technology and Civilisation (FSTC), which his supporters say acts as a think tank, used to promote economic growth and development across the world. The FSTC supports entrepreneurship, especially in science and technology.
We know this from a Wikipedia entry about him:
“Gülen’s supporters praise him as a reformer who promotes tolerance and science, particularly mathematics and technology. He has been described as the most powerful man in Turkey and one of the most influential Muslims in the world. Gülen has stated that he is not “just a Muslim”, but rather “an international citizen”.
Gülen and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan were allies until 2013. Since then, Gülen and his supporters have been charged with trying to overthrow Erdoğan’s government. In 1999, President Clinton received Gülen at the White House. In 2000, he was granted a residence permit in the United States.[15] He stayed at first in a hotel in Pennsylvania but later bought a retreat center near Potomac, Maryland. The location of his 100-acre (0.40 km2) compound was kept secret by the U.S. Government. After the coup attempt in Turkey in July 2016, members of the Trump administration stated that President Trump may review Gülen’s immigration status in the United States, possibly returning him to Turkey.[16]
Gülen has denied any involvement in a plot to overthrow the Turkish government. Gülen’s followers strongly believe that he is being targeted for his reforms which have helped to modernize and Westernize the Turkish society, including raising women’s and minority quotas for university admissions and access to civil service jobs.[17]
Gülen also founded a publishing company called Bookmark Publishing House (BBP), which is distributed outside Turkey. It was established in 1998. Gülen’s supporters have said that his publishing house is an “Islamic cultural movement”, also known as a civilizational movement. The BBP publishes and distributes books on history, art, philosophy, English literature, science and the Internet.[18]
The U.S. Government considers Gülen and his followers to be “tied to the Turkish government [and] actively working towards creating a reformation in Turkey” and therefore carry a “foreign terrorist organization” label. Gülen is seen as a threat to Turkey’s secular order and “has openly criticized the Turkish government.” On July 28, 2016, U.S. President Barack Obama officially designated the organization as a terrorist group.[19]
Gülen had also been accused of collaborating with Israel and giving them intelligence information. In 2006, Turkish authorities arrested around 1,000 people “suspected of ‘failing to send children to state schools’, ‘rebelling against the government’ and ‘spreading false or misleading information'” after an investigation by Turkey’s Interior Ministry.[20] The “suspects” were alleged to have been members of Gülen’s Hizmet movement.
