TRANSCRIPT
When tanks, warplanes and helicopters were used to try to overthrow Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government eight years ago...the President pointed the finger at reclusive US-based Fetullah Gulen - the popular leader of a reformist Islamic movement Hismet - the Turkish word for service.
Senior Lecturer in Islamic Studies at Melbourne University's Asia Institute Dr David Tittensor has written a book on the movement.
"It was giving a modern message and that message was that you could actually be in the world, you can be modern but you can also be religious."
In the early 2000s his followers had assumed crucial positions of power in his native country Turkiye.
But Dr Tittensor says Gulen fell foul of his one-time ally Erdogan over his leadership style.
"It's alleged that members of the Gulen movement from within the judiciary started a corruption probe into the government because they were fed up with what they saw as endemic corruption."
In turn, Erdogan accused him of terrorism and orchestrating the botched rebellion.
Gulen and his supporters described the charges as ridiculous and politically-motivated...with US authorities rejecting Turkiye's extradition bids.
Supporters say political attempts to link him to the botched takeover shouldn't overshadow his global work as a Muslim preacher and scholar.
The former editor of a Gulen-linked newspaper, Abdulhamit Bilici, says it's what he should be remembered for.
"He was a source of inspiration for millions of people not just in Turkey but around the world. No country where you have the rule of law and democracy They never say this is a terror movement. so it's only Turkey, only Erdogan."
But his death after a long illness hasn't diminished the hostility towards him from Ankara.
This organisation has been a threat rarely seen in the history of our nation, says the country’s foreign minister, Hakan Fidan.
Calling on followers to… run away from this "treasonous wrong path".
Fetullah Gulen was 83.
