Turkish security sources confirm FETO ringleader Fetullah Gulen’s death

Security sources on Monday confirmed the death of Fetullah Gulen, the leader of the Fetullah terrorist organization (FETO), according to a written statement acquired by Türkiye Today.

Earlier on Monday, media outlets close to FETO had announced that the 83-year-old leader of the terrorist organization, died in the hospital.

Recent media reports indicated that Gulen’s health had significantly deteriorated. In addition to kidney failure and diabetes, he was also reportedly suffering from dementia.

The United States-based leader of FETO, the group responsible for a bloody coup attempt in Türkiye in 2016, was last seen on Oct. 12, 2024, in a car leaving his new residence after being evacuated from his Pennsylvania farm, where he had lived since 1999.

‘Power struggle inside the organization after Fetullah Gulen’s death’

Gulen’s relatives and a number of people close to the organization’s leadership have been in a power struggle ever since the terror group leader’s deteriorating health. Recently, old videos of the ringleader had been put back into circulation on social media in an attempt to convey that Gulen was in better health again.

That power struggle could also see a rise of complications at the funeral reports suggest, as struggling factions try to seize power at the terrorist organization’s leadership and moneyflow.

FETO has clandestinely conducted its activities in Türkiye since the 1960s, culminating in the coup attempt of July 15, 2016 which resulted in the death of 252 people and left 2,735 others injured.

The attempt was foiled by a rare instance of public resistance to putschists. Since 2016, FETO has been recognized as a terrorist organization by the likes of Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and Pakistan.