There was joviality across Türkiye as citizens woke up on Monday to the news that Fetullah Gülen, the ringleader of the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), which massacred hundreds on July 15, 2016, in an attempt to overthrow the government, was announced dead in Pennsylvania, U.S.
Gülen’s death at 83, likely due to old age and various undisclosed illnesses, sparked hope among citizens that the terrorist group could crumble without a leader, who has evaded Turkish justice for years now.
A group gathered outside a penitentiary in the capital Ankara housing FETÖ convicts to celebrate with song and trumpets Gülen’s sudden death.
“I am very happy with this news,” one jovial citizen, Mehmet Celal Almaz, said. “Those who betray the government will be buried stateless thousands of kilometers away from Türkiye.”
Almaz warned FETÖ members to “repent instead of dying without a state.”
Twin children of a police officer killed in a bomb attack in Ankara on July 15 were less merciful as they wished Gülen “would burn in hell.”
“That’s our only wish,” Ahmet and Mehmet Oruç said. “The only reason we’re happy is because the world has been rid of this traitor. We’re also a bit sad because he didn’t pay his penalty here.”
Another who was injured outside the city hall in Istanbul on the night of the coup welcomed the news as a “happy occasion.”
“I cannot wait for the judgment day. I will not let (Gülen) go without taking my due from him in front of God,” Kani Yeşilyurt said.
