US-based Turkish preacher Fethullah Gulen — who Turkey's government in Ankara blames for orchestrating a failed coup in 2016 — has died at age 83. 

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Monday confirmed in an unrelated press briefing in Ankara that Gulen was dead, citing Turkish intelligence with the information.

"Our intelligence sources confirm the death of the leader of the FETO organization," Fidan said.

Ankara's top diplomat was responding to a question from a news reporter dealing with reports of Gulan's death when he made the comments,

Earlier, the Herkul website, which publishes Gulen's sermons, said on its X account that Gulen had died on Sunday evening in a hospital after being treated for a long-term illness.

What is the Gulen movement?

The Gulen movement, a globally active religious movement with more than 4 million members, is not a centralized or formal organization, but a set of networks inspired by Gulen.

Gulen, a former ally of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who lived in exile in the US state of Pennsylvania, denied accusations of involvement in the failed coup and condemned the attempt "in the strongest possible terms."

"As someone who suffered under multiple military coups during the past five decades, it is especially insulting to be accused of having any link to such an attempt," he said in a statement from 2016.

Ankara reacts to 2016 failed coup

Ankara designated his movement a terrorist group, naming it the Fethullahist Terror Organization, or FETO.

Gulen had been living in the US state of Pennsylvania since 1999. He was stripped of his Turkish nationality in 2017. 

The failed coup of 2016 in which some 250 people were killed, resulted in tens of thousands of civil servants in various sectors being jailed and removed from their positions.

Around 125,000 government workers, including 24,000 soldiers and thousands in the judicial system, were sacked.   

Turkish authorities have systematically dismantled Gulen's footprint in Turkey since the events of July 15, 2016.

kb/wmr (Reuters, AFP)