Fethullah Gulen, the US-based Muslim cleric accused of masterminding the July 15, 2016, coup attempt in Turkey, could soon be stripped of his Turkish citizenship while he remains on trial in absentia on myriad charges carrying gigantic sentences. The government has already laid the legal ground for the move, but why it plans to revoke Gulen’s citizenship remains a controversial question.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had signaled the start of the process in October 2016 when he made a remarkable comment on fugitive coup suspects. “We’ve said they’ll be running and we’ll go after them. They can run wherever they want,” Erdogan said. “Let them now become citizens of the countries where they fled. They will no longer be remembered as citizens of this nation.”
