The reclusive cleric blamed by Turkey’s president for the failed coup in Turkey claims the uprising by the country’s military may have been “staged” by the government.
In a rare interview, Fethullah Gülen, who is in exile in the US, denied all claims he was behind the coup and instead made the counter-claim that Turkey’s president had orchestrated the revolt.
He told The Guardian: “I don’t believe that the world believes the accusations made by President Erdoğan.
“There is a possibility that it could be a staged coup and it could be meant for further accusations [against the Gülenists].”
Gülen, who now lives in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania, leads a popular movement called Hizmet which split from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan over a corruption scandal in 2013.
He claimed he only knew a “minute fraction” of his followers still in Turkey and so could not confirm or deny their “potential involvement” in the attempted coup. – READ MORE
