Gülen Movement’s nationwide structure fully exposed

The hierarchical structure of the shadowy Gülen Movement had been debated for years and many former senior members of the movement had previously exposed some of the hidden structures of the movement and how its leader, the U.S.-based imam Fethullah Gülen, controls every decision taken by his movement. Sabah daily's Şaban Arslan and Hayrettin Bektaş in their multi-part series, have now exposed the nationwide organizational structure of the movement.

Latİf Erdoğan, the former president of the Gülen Movement-affiliated Journalists and Writers Foundation (GYV) and formerly a close ally of Fethullah Gülen, revealed that Gülen had given himself the "imam of the universe" title and designed a structure to empower his movement by appointing "imams" – a term the movement uses for its agents – to different continents, countries, cities, districts and neighborhoods.

The movement allegedly used its imams both in cities and state institutions to topple the government in 2013. The administration of the movement, which is claimed to operate like a state, is allegedly divided in two – a legal set of institutions, mainly nongovernmental organizations and educational corporations, and an illegal, undercover wing, which consists of regionally appointed members of the movement.

The imams are being promoted to higher positions in state institutions and are constantly relocated every three to four years. Most of them hide their movement-appointed ranks by having symbolic positions in schools run by the movement. They are also allegedly solely responsible for the movement's activities in their territory and make sure that the targeted amount of illegally collected charity is met.

The provincial imams also control members of the movement who work in the public sector and convey Gülen's messages to those below them in the hierarchy. Other than illegally collecting charity, the movement also makes sure that followers and sympathizers make sure they subscribe as many people as they can for the movement's newspapers and magazines and enroll children in movement-led schools. After serving as provincial imams, these senior members of the movement are being appointed as imam to a country or to a senior position at movement-led organizations. These high-ranking members of the movement also use nicknames and encrypted telephones and mobile applications when contacting each other.

The Marmara region's imam, Ahmet Kırmiç, 53, is also the co-owner of Sürat Publications and was general director of the nationwide FEM prep-schools. Currently, CEO of the Fırat Educational Center, Kırmiç is also responsible for the Istanbul region..

The Istanbul region's imam, Sadık Kesmeci, had worked in movement-affiliated media and several other organizations after serving as the imam of the Erzurum region. Bursa province's imam is Cansun Sarıyıldız, who had taken a movement-appointed role in Cyprus and is currently serving at the Silm Education in Bursa. Osman Ağaçdiken was appointed imam of the western province of Edirne and Şuayip Beyazıt is the imam of Kırklareli province. Abdullah Ülker was appointed to Çanakkale, Mehmet Akif Saka to Kocaeli, Turan Öztoprak to Sakarya and İzzet Bilir to Balıkesir.