The Future of the Gülen Movement in Transnational Political Exile: Introduction to the Special Issue

This article introduces a collection of articles that explore the altered conditions and future trajectory of the Gülen movement (GM) in the wake of the 15 July 2016 attempted coup in Turkey and the subsequent crackdown by the Turkish state. The question of survival has been thrown in to sharp relief by these events, which constitute nothing short of an existential crisis for the movement and have left members stranded in transnational political exile. How have the movement’s civil society, education, and business networks fared in transnational space under the new dispensation? Does the severing of the transnational Gülenist diaspora from its Turkish base portend ruin for the GM or are there sources of resilience? What are the likely contours of ongoing conflict between the Turkish state and the GM in transnational space? The article sets these questions in historical context, looking at the causes and consequences of the GM’s rise and spectacular fall. It then summarizes the approach and some of the main findings of the articles in the Special Issue, offering an outline of the broader lessons that emerge from them.