The United Kingdom Home Office has released an updated Country Policy and Information Note on the faith-based Gülen movement in Turkey, detailing widespread and systematic human rights violations targeting its members since a coup attempt on July 15, 2016.
By referencing SCF’s work along with official Turkish government figures and international human rights reports, the Home Office indicates the credibility and importance of independent monitoring efforts in exposing the Turkish government’s systematic persecution of alleged Gülen affiliates both within and beyond its borders.
The Home Office report acknowledges the sweeping crackdown initiated by the Turkish government following the 2016 coup attempt, stating that “[s]ince the attempted coup, the government has carried out a crackdown on individuals and groups believed to have links with the Gülen movement.” It further notes that the risk of persecution or serious harm for those affiliated, or perceived to be affiliated, with the movement “depends on a range of factors,” indicating the arbitrary and often politically motivated nature of the repression.
The 2025 revision of the Home Office’s Country Policy and Information Note reinforces its longstanding evaluation of Turkey’s approach to the Gülen movement. Nearly a decade after the 2016 coup attempt, the report confirms that mass incarceration, persistent violations of due process and aggressive transnational repression continue to define Ankara’s strategy.
The Home Office report devotes a sizeable section to the Turkish government’s escalating campaign of transnational repression, highlighting its global reach and disregard for international legal norms. Citing the 2022 annual report of Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT), the document reveals that over 100 individuals allegedly affiliated with the Gülen movement were forcibly returned to Turkey — often through extrajudicial renditions. It further highlights that Turkish authorities have submitted extradition requests to 112 countries for 1,271 movement members, illustrating the systematic nature of Ankara’s efforts to silence dissent beyond its borders.
The Home Office report underscores Turkey’s international isolation in its designation of the Gülen movement as a terrorist organization, noting that “other than Turkey, no State party to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) has designated the Gülen movement as a terrorist organization.” This observation reinforces concerns that Ankara’s classification is politically motivated and lacks recognition under international legal standards.
The report also cites a European Commission publication that documented a rise in “credible allegations of torture and ill-treatment in detention centers and prisons” as well as a US Department of State report concluding that individuals with alleged links to the Gülen movement are more likely to be subject to mistreatment and possibly torture while in detention.
The report adds that the detention of individuals helping families of people jailed for alleged Gülen links and people accused of receiving or distributing financial assistance sent by Gülen followers abroad contributed to the number of detentions.
In addition, the Home Office emphasizes the legal deficiencies in the trials of alleged Gülen followers, such as the retroactive criminalization of acts of involvement that were legal at the time they occurred and the questionable nature of the evidence used against alleged affiliates.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been targeting followers of the Gülen movement, inspired by the late Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen, since corruption investigations in December 2013 implicated him as well as some members of his family and inner circle.
Dismissing the investigations as a Gülenist coup and a conspiracy against his government, Erdoğan began to target the movement’s members. He designated the movement as a terrorist organization in May 2016 and intensified the crackdown on it following the abortive putsch in July of the same year that he accused Gülen of masterminding. The movement strongly denies involvement in the coup attempt or any terrorist activity.
According to the latest figures from the Justice Ministry, more than 126,000 people have been convicted for alleged links to the Gülen movement since 2016, with 11,085 still in prison. Legal proceedings are ongoing for over 24,000 individuals, while another 58,000 remain under investigation nearly a decade later.
In addition to the thousands who were jailed, scores of other Gülen movement followers had to flee Turkey to avoid the government crackdown. Updated in August 2025, the report forms part of a series initiated in 2016 in response to the attempted coup in Turkey. These Country Policy and Information Notes are regularly revised and serve as essential guidance for decision-makers assessing protection claims by Turkish nationals. The latest edition indicates that only minor changes in wording were made to the previous year’s text, while reaffirming its core findings regarding the ongoing risk of persecution faced by individuals affiliated with the Gülen movement.
