From His Refuge in the Poconos, Reclusive Imam Fethullah Gulen Roils Turkey

Religious Leader Lashes Out at Prime Minister Erdogan, a One-Time Ally

By Joe Parkinson and Ayla Albayrak

The Wall Street Journal - Jan. 20, 2014

The reclusive imam whose crumbling political marriage of convenience with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has threatened the stability of the West's biggest ally in a turbulent region lashed out Monday at his one-time partner, the strongest sign yet of an irreparable split.
In comments he made to The Wall Street Journal, Fethullah Gulen, a charismatic cleric who preaches a message of tolerance to his millions of followers from his self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains, accused Mr. Erdogan of abandoning the path of reform after more than a decade in power.

"Turkish people…are upset that in the last two years democratic progress is now being reversed," Mr. Gulen said in emailed answers to questions—his first such exchange since a corruption probe plunged Mr. Erdogan's government into crisis last month.

"Purges based on ideology, sympathy or world views was a practice of the past that the present ruling party promised to stop," he wrote.

Mr. Gulen hinted that his movement—known internally as Hizmet, which means service, and externally as Cemaat, which means congregation—would like to see a challenge to Mr. Erdogan's Islamist-leaning Justice and Development Party, or AKP.

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