Erdogan's rival Fetullah Gülen has died in exile at the age of 83

US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen, who was accused by Turkish authorities of orchestrating a failed coup in 2016, has died in US exile at the age of 83, his personal website said.

Turkish public television said the preacher, who had lived in Pennsylvania since 1999 and whose Turkish citizenship was revoked in 2017, had died in hospital.

Gülen's website Herkul, which is banned in Turkey, said the imam died on “20. October” died.

Gülen was an ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

But after his exile, Erdogan's government accused his Hizmet organization of being a “terrorist” group and Gülen of attempting a coup in 2016. He denied the allegations.

Hizmet, which means “service” in Turkish, runs a network of Islamic schools around the world and has become an influential but shadowy group.

Gülen allied with Erdogan in the 2000s to help him win elections, but became the Turkish president's archenemy after disagreements began in 2010.

Erdogan cracked down on Gulen supporters after corruption allegations were made against the president's Justice and Development Party in 2013.

Erdogan said the investigators were Gülen supporters.

A failed coup against Erdogan in 2016 deepened the divide.

The president accused Gülen of carrying out the coup, 3,000 Gülen supporters were sentenced to life imprisonment, and legal action was taken against 700,000 people.

About 125,000 government employees, including 24,000 soldiers and thousands of investigative judges, were fired.

Turkish media reported extensively on Gülen's death on Monday, but the government had no immediate comment.

oh/tw/gil