The cleric next door: Pocono neighbors weigh in on Fethullah Gülen, the man Turkey wants back
by Vinny Vella, Updated: January 16, 2019



SAYLORSBURG, Pa. — In this rural mountain town, no matter how long ago you moved in, you’re still an outsider. Be it a transplant from New York or Jersey lured by cheap property here in the ’90s or one of the most wanted men in the Middle East. Fethullah Gülen, the 80-year-old Turkish leader of an Islamic religious movement, has lived in exile in this pastoral slice of the Pocono Mountains for two decades. He spends his days praying, writing, and entertaining visitors on a 26-acre property on Mount Eaton Road that previously served as a family-run resort for hunters and a summer camp for Muslim youth from New York.

In 2016, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused his former ally-turned-foe of masterminding a deadly and ultimately unsuccessful military coup from 6,000 miles away and has been calling for his extradition ever since. In addition to Gülen’s alleged role in the attempted coup, which he has denied, Turkish prosecutors have accused Gülen of terrorism and other crimes and say his network of followers was behind the 2016 killing of Russia’s ambassador to Turkey. After the failed coup, thousands of his followers were rounded up and jailed.

These days, President Donald Trump is under increasing pressure from Erdogan to send Gülen back to his native land, where he would almost certainly face imprisonment, or even death. Former national security adviser Michael Flynn, whose consulting company was paid to lobby the Trump administration on behalf of Turkey and target Gülen, has called him “a shady Islamic mullah” and “a radical Islamist.”

But here in Pennsylvania, residents view the cleric with a mix of ambivalence and curiosity, most catching only glimpses of his property at community dinners and picnics thrown by his staff. Some are suspicious of Gülen and want nothing more than to see the president remove him from their home turf.

https://www.inquirer.com/news/pennsylvania/fethullah-gulen-movement-turkey-erdogan-saylorsburg-pennsylvania-camp-20190116.html